CSCI 3323 (Principles of Operating Systems):
Lecture Topics and Assignments

The table below shows what we will be discussing in each class meeting, readings (from the textbook unless otherwise indicated), dates of exams and quizzes, and due dates for homeworks. Dates of exams are fixed; other items are subject to change. Homework is due at 5pm on the date shown, unless otherwise indicated.

Date Topics Reading Due dates
August 28 (W) About the course (Notes)    
August 30 (F) Overview and history of operating systems (Notes) 1.1, 1.2  
September 2 (M) Holiday    
September 4 (W) Overview of hardware functionality (Notes) 1.3  
September 6 (F) System calls (Notes) 1.6  
September 9 (M) O/S versus applications, revisited; a little about command shells and homework~1 (Notes) 1.5  
September 11 (W) Operating system concepts; operating system structures (Notes) 1.4, 1.7, 1.8 (skim), 1.9, 1.10, 1.11, 1.12  
September 13 (F) Operating system structures, continued (Notes)   Homework 1: HTML, PDF
September 16 (M) Processes (Notes) 2.1, 2.2  
September 18 (W) Processes and threads; interprocess communication (Notes) 2.3 Quiz 1
September 20 (F) No class    
September 23 (M) Interprocess communication, continued (Notes)    
September 25 (W) Interprocess communication, continued (Notes)    
September 27 (F) No class    
September 30 (M) Interprocess communication, continued (Notes)    
October 2 (W) No class    
October 4 (F) No class    
October 7 (M) Interprocess communication, continued (Notes)    
October 9 (W) No class    
October 11 (F) No class    
October 14 (M) No class    
October 16 (W) Classical IPC problems (Notes) 2.5 Quiz 2; Homework 2: HTML, PDF  
October 18 (F) Holiday    
October 21 (M) Scheduling (Notes) 2.4, 2.6, 2.7  
October 23 (W) Scheduling, continued (Notes)   Homework 3: HTML, PDF
October 25 (F) Review for midterm (Notes)    
October 28 (M) Midterm (Review in HTML, PDF)    
October 30 (W) No class    
November 1 (F) No class    
November 4 (M) No class    
November 6 (W) Memory management (Notes) 3.1, 3.2 Quiz 3  
November 8 (F) Memory management, continued (Notes) 3.3 Homework 4: HTML, PDF  
November 11 (M) Memory management, continued (Notes) 3.4  
November 13 (W) Memory management, continued (Notes) 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9  
November 15 (F) Memory management, continued (Notes)   Quiz 4
November 18 (M) Memory management, continued (Notes)    
November 20 (W) Filesystems (Notes) 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 Homework 5: HTML, PDF  
November 22 (F) Filesystems, continued (Notes) 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7  
November 25 (M) No class    
November 27 (W) Holiday    
November 29 (F) Holiday    
December 2 (M) Filesystems, continued; I/O (Notes) 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 Quiz 5
December 4 (W) I/O, continued (Notes) 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10  
December 6 (F) A little about deadlocks; a little about security (Notes) 6 (skim), 9 (skim) Quiz 6
December 9 (M) (Notes) Course wrap-up and evaluations    
December 11 (W) Not a class day   Homework 6: HTML, PDF  
December 13 (F), 7pm Final (Review in HTML, PDF)    
December 18 (W), noon (Not a class day)   Extra-credit assignment: HTML, PDF