CSCI 4320 (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 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 (F) About the course (Notes)    
August 31 (M) Overview and history of operating systems (Notes) 1.1, 1.2  
September 2 (W) Overview of hardware functionality (Notes) 1.3  
September 4 (F) Overview of hardware functionality, continued; operating system concepts (Notes) 1.5  
September 7 (M) Holiday    
September 9 (W) No class    
September 11 (F) No class    
September 14 (M) System calls; operating system structures (Notes) 1.4, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 (skim), 1.9, 1.10, 1.11, 1.12  
September 16 (W) Processes (Notes) 2.1  
September 18 (F) Threads (Notes) 2.2  
September 21 (M) Interprocess communication (Notes) 2.3 Homework 1: HTML, PDF
September 23 (W) Interprocess communication, continued (Notes)    
September 25 (F) Interprocess communication, continued (Notes)    
September 28 (M) Interprocess communication, continued (Notes)    
September 30 (W) No class    
October 2 (F) No class    
October 5 (M) Scheduling (Notes) 2.4  
October 7 (W) Classical IPC problems (Notes) 2.5  
October 9 (F) More about scheduling (Notes)    
October 12 (M) Review for midterm (Notes)   Homework 2: HTML, PDF
October 14 (W) Midterm exam (Review in HTML, PDF)    
October 16 (F) Holiday    
October 19 (M) No class    
October 21 (W) Memory management (Notes) 3.1, 3.2  
October 23 (F) Memory management, continued (Notes) 3.3  
October 26 (M) Memory management, continued (Notes)    
October 28 (W) Memory management, continued (Notes) 3.4  
October 30 (F) Memory management, continued (Notes) 3.5  
November 2 (M) No class    
November 4 (W) Memory management, continued (Notes) 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9  
November 6 (F) Filesystems (Notes) 4.1, 4.2, 4.3  
November 9 (M) Filesystems, continued (Notes) 4.4  
November 11 (W) Filesystems, continued (Notes) 4.5, 4.6, 4.7  
November 13 (F) I/O (Notes) 5.1, 5.2, 5.3  
November 16 (M) No class    
November 18 (W) No class    
November 20 (F) I/O, continued (Notes) 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10 Homework 3: HTML, PDF
November 23 (M) I/O, continued (Notes)    
November 25 (W) No class    
November 27 (F) Holiday    
November 30 (M) A little about deadlocks (Notes) 6  
December 2 (W) A little about security (Notes) 9 Homework 4: HTML, PDF
December 4 (F) Security, continued (Notes)    
December 7 (M) Course wrap-up and evaluations (Notes)   Homework 5: HTML, PDF
December 11 (F)     Homework 6: HTML, PDF
December 17 (Th), 8:30am Final exam (Review in HTML, PDF)   Optional Homework X: HTML, PDF