COURSE DESCRIPTION

                     http://pix.cs.olemiss.edu/csci423

               CSCI 423 - Introduction to Operating Systems
                CSCI 501 - Fundamental Concepts in Systems

  Description:    Design and construction of operating systems for
                  shared program computers; various contemporary
                  operating systems.

  Prerequisite:   CSCI 223 Assembly Language Programming and
                  Computer Organization.(3)

  Textbook:       The Linux Kernel Primer: A Top-Down Approach for
                  x86 and PowerPC Architectures by Claudia Salzberg
                  Rodriguez, Gordon Fischer, Steven Smolski
                  Prentice Hall PTR 2005

  Coordinator:    P. Tobin Maginnis, Associate Professor of Computer
                  and Information Science

  Goals:          Students are provided with the conceptual tools to
                  analyze the design and use of operating systems.
                  The public-knowledge Linux operating system provides
                  operating system implementation examples.

  Prerequisite by Topic

          1.      Familiarity with a general purpose high-level language
                  such as C, Pascal, or Ada.
          2.      Familiarity with general programming concepts.

  Topics

          1.      Proprietary versus public-knowledge software (1 hour)
          2.      C programming language (2 hours).
          3.      Operating system models (2 hours).
          4.      Analysis of state management implementation and the
                  "block move" problem (3 hours).
          5.      System bootstrapping and task initialization (3 hours).
          6.      Process management (2 hours).
          7.      Logical memory drivers (1 hour).
          8.      Timing service (1 hour).
          9.      Process duplication and creation (4 hours).
          10.     Memory management (4 hours).
          11.     Data caching (2 hours).
          12.     Open call (4 hours).
          13.     Name service (3 hours).
          14.     Read, write, and close calls (3 hours).
          15.     Tests (4 hours plus the final examination period).

  Laboratory Projects

          See: http://pix.cs.olemiss.edu/csci423


  Graduate vs undergraduate requirements

          PLEASE NOTE: This is a dual graduate/undergraduate course.  For
          those graduate students enrolled in CSCI 501, additional
          programming exercises will be assigned.

  Course Grading
          Undergraduate:
          Four written tests @ 100 points each             400
          N program exercises at n/100 points each         100
                                                           ---
          Total course points                              500

          Graduate:
          Four written tests @ 100 points each             400
          N program exercises at n/100 points each         100
          Programming project                              100
                                                           ---
          Total course points                              600

          No makeup tests!  But, there is an optional final with bonus
          points worth up to one letter grade.  The first ten questions
          of the final replace the lowest test grade of a previous test.
          Please note: You must score your AVERAGE grade on the first
          ten questions of the final BEFORE the last ten questions are
          worth one letter grade in bonus points (50 pts).

          No curve, just a simple 10% grade scale.  Using the above
          example, the undergraduate scale would be:
          450 to 500  -> A
          400 to 449  -> B
          350 to 399  -> C
          300 to 349  -> D
          Below  300  -> F

          The graduate scale would be:
          540 to 600  -> A
          480 to 539  -> B
          420 to 479  -> C
          360 to 419  -> D
          Below  360  -> F

Course Objectives

         Upon course completion the student should be able to:

         1. Describe the background, difference, and design tradeoff
            between proprietary and public-knowledge software.
         
         2. Write C language programs using pointers.

         3. Describe a control-of-flow model for operating systems.

         4. Describe how process management creates and maintains
            multitasking, multi-threading, and multiuser features
            in an operating system.

         5. Describe how the file manager, in addition to its
            conventional role of file naming and file protection,
            provides system abstractions for status, direct device
            access, and virtual devices.

         6. Explain how the memory management unit provides unique
            views of physical memory for each process and the OS,
            as well as, allows dynamic linked object modules.

         7. Describe the concept of device independence and the role
            of OS LUTs.

         8. Describe the Linux OS bootstrap and task initialization
            process.