CMSC421 -- Principles of Operating Systems
Syllabus
Instructor
Instructor: Gary Burt
Webpage: http://www.umbc.edu/~burt
Office: ECS 202B
Office Hours: by appointment or walk-ins when my door is open.
E-mail: burt@cs.umbc.edu
Please do not call me on the telephone. I normally have a line of students
waiting to see me and I will not stop helping people who have been waiting in line to answer the phone.
I think that is very disrespect to the students standing in line.
Teaching Assistant: TBA
Webpage: http://www.cs.umbc.edu/~xxx
Office: ECS-334
email xxx@csee.umbc.edu
Office Hours: TBA
Class Time and Place
Section 101: TTH 2:30 - 3:45 pm SS 111
Section 201: MW 5:30 - 6:45 pm ACIV 150
Section 301: TTH 5:30 - 4:45 pm SS207
Textbook
Required
- Operating Systems Concepts by Abraham Silbershcatz,
Peter Baer Galvin, Grep Gange, 2002
- Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment, Stevens,
Addison-Wesley, 1992
Recommended
- Modern Operating Systems, 2nd Edition Tannenbaum,
Prentice Hall, 2001
Course Homepage
This course has a homepage where assignments and grades
will be posted. Many of the handouts will also be
available off of the homepage. The URL is:
http://www.cs.umbc.edu/courses/undergraduate/CMSC421/fall02/burt
The easiest way to get to it is to go to my webpage, and follow the link.
Grading
a number of projects | 200-300 points each |
a number of pop-quizzes | 5 points each |
a number of homework assignments | 50 points each |
term paper | 100 points |
midterm | 200 points |
final exam worth | 400 points |
Your final letter grade is based on the standard formula:
90%+ A
80%+ B
70%+ C
60%+ D
Below 60% F
Your grade is based on timely work accomplished during
the semester; incomplete grades will only be given for
medical illness or other such dire
circumstances.
Project Submission and Grading
The critical skills cannot be learned simply by attending
the class. You should budget enough time to work on the
projects as well. This course requires a significant amount
of work on your part.
Late assignments will be penalized 10
percent per day up to a maximum of five days late. Any project
not turned in will receive a grade of -100%.
You will be turning in your assignments electronically, using the Blackboard system.
It is located at http://blackboard.umbc.edu.
If you do not know how to use it, get the UMBC Internet CD 2003 from ECS-020, which
has a Blackboard Basics Tutorial.
When submitting something on Blackboard, you must label what you are submitting with
the last four of your SSN and what it is:
1234 -- Project 1
I grade the Midterm, Final and written reports. Everything else is graded by the TA.
Grading for the projects will be done on the basis that you must
precisely follow instructions on projects and
exams. If it says you are to show sixteen bits and you only
provide eight, it is wrong. You must comment the programs as required
or you will lose points.
Project Policy
All projects must be completed by your own individual,
creative effort. You should never have a copy of
someone else's project either on paper or
electronically under any circumstance.
Also, you should never give a copy of
your project, either on paper or electronically, to another student. This also means that you cannot
"work" on the project together. Cases of academic
dishonesty will be dealt with as severely as allowed
by University policy.
If your project is turned in by someone else, both you and
the person copying your project will receive a -100% for that
project. This includes "substantially similar" projects.
Furthermore, all parties concerned will have their prior
projects checked for cheating. So, if you cheat on
Project 4, you can lose all the points from Projects 1
through 3 as well, even though you may have done all the
work and just "let" other people copy from you.
Academic Conduct Policy
The following is taken from the
UMBC Student Handbook:
DEFINITIONS OF ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
Academic misconduct may include but is not limited to the following:
- Cheating: knowingly using or attempting to use unauthorized material, information, or study
aids in any academic exercise.
- Fabrication: Intentional and unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or
citation in an academic exercise.
- Facilitating Academic Dishonesty: Intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to
help another commit an act of academic dishonesty.
- Plagiarism: Knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in any
academic exercise, including works of art and computer-generated information/images.
POLICY FOR RESOLVING CASES OF ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
Individual faculty members have the right and responsibility to deal directly with any cases of
academic misconduct which arise in their courses. Instances of academic misconduct may be
identified in one of two ways. If a faculty member believes a student has committed an act of
academic misconduct--for example, by direct observation of student behavior, by comparing the
contents of an assignment with that submitted by another student, or by reviewing notated
sources or references--the faculty member, in consultation with the Chair of the Academic
Conduct Committee, will assess the student's alleged misconduct and the faculty
member's options. If a student believes that academic misconduct has occurred, the student
will notify either the faculty member or the Chair of the Academic Conduct Committee.
It is particularly important that the Chair of the Academic Conduct Committee be consulted. The
Chair can provide knowledge and insight for the faculty member. Communication of instances of
academic misconduct also protects the integrity of the university by providing a means of recording
infractions that may be repeated by a particular student, or which may prove endemic to a particular
course or department. Consultation with the Chair of the Academic Conduct Committee provides a
formal record of the infraction and resolution, protecting the student, professor, and university
should any questions later arise.
The student will have the opportunity to respond to an accusation of academic misconduct.
Communications
All communications with the instructor and the TA must have your name
and the last four of your Social Security Number (last four). Too many of you
have email that shows up with a fancy alias and we can't figure out
who "Joe Snuffy" is! This includes all email, projects, homework,
written reports, etc. Except for in-class work, all material must
be typed (or printed on the computer). Too many of you have handwriting
that would qualify you to be a medical doctor!
Lectures and Readings
- You are expected to attend all classes. (Attendance is not a part of your grades.)
- You are responsible for all material covered in the lecture, even
if the material is not in the textbook. You are responsible for the
material in the readings, even if they are not covered during
lecture. (I recommend you have a study team and help each other
with getting any material from lecture.)
- There will be supplemental material on the course webpages that you
are will have to master in addition to the material in the book.
- You need to monitor the course web pages daily. All new material
will be marked with a yellow icon and the word new, along
with the date the material was modified. That icon will remain for
at least one week. If it is on the web page for 48 hours, I will
penalize you for not following instructions.
Exams
- The exams will be closed-book and closed-notes.
- There are quizzes, tests, a Mid-term Exam, and a Final Exam.
- You must show a photo ID for the Mid-term and Final Exams.
- I do not tolerate cheating in any form. Copy from any one
is cheating. Likewise, copying from a book any any assignment
is cheating! You must do your own work.
Written Report
The is one written report required for this class. For this report, you
will locate four articles (published on hard-copy or electronically) on
some aspect of Operating Systems. Your report will
summarize the article and you will present your analysis of the
article. The report must be printed on the computer, using a
font of 12 points and double spaced. It will be four full pages plus an additional title page
which provides your name, SSAN (last four), title of the article and section number.
Graphics may be used, but does not count as a part of the page requirement.
Out-of-Class Help
You will have some difficulties in this class and will need some
extra help. This is normal. You can come to me or the TA for this
help. The sooner you come to us for help, the easier it is for you to
catch up. Don't wait until you are totally and hopelessly lost. Work
the exercises in the book, even when it is not homework, because you
can not learn this material only by reading it. You must write programs
to learn all these concepts. The TA's primary responsibility in this
course is to help you. Don't waste this opportunity.
In the past, I have had students who would visit me as much as four
times a week for assistance. Then again, I have had former students
come back and visit for assistance in other courses. Don't be afraid
of upsetting me because you ask for help too often.
Some times students use the Internet to ask for help on something.
For instance, we have a Linux User's Group here at UMBC which is extremely
helpful. If you ask them for help, you MUST start your request with
a statement that says you are working on a class assignment. You may
not give them the whole assigned question and ask for the answer, but
you can tell them that the question involve a subject and ask for locations to
look for more information about that subject.
ADA Compliance
We recognize that some of you might have disabilities that require
special attention from the instruction staff. Please make us
aware of them so that UMBC can make suitable arrangements.
Cell Phones and Pagers
All cell phones and pagers must be either turned off or set to vibrate.