News & Notes

Homework

NOTE: while the links to all of the homework assignments may exist before they are assigned, the homework may change until the date it's assigned. In other words, doing the homework before it's assigned isn't such a good idea.

• Homework #1 (due 22 Feb 1999) [solutions]
• Homework #2 (due 10 Mar 1999) [solutions]
• Homework #3 (due 17 Mar 1999) [solutions]
• Homework #4 (due 14 Apr 1999) [solutions]
• Homework #5 (due 5 May 1999) [solutions]
• Homework #6 (due 12 May 1999) [solutions]

Solutions are only accessible to Web browsers in the umbc.edu domain. You're free to download the solutions to another computer, but you must access them from a campus machine or a shell running on a campus machine. If you usually use a different ISP, consider connecting to UMBC and using lynx (a text-based Web browser).

Projects

• Project #1 (design due 8 Mar 1999, code due 15 Mar 1999)
• Project #2 (design due 12 Apr 1999, code due 12 May 1999)

Exams

• Midterm (29 Mar 1999, in class) [solutions]
• Final exam (17 May 1999, 3:30PM - 5:30 PM, CP 210)

Class News

• 25 May 1999: Final grades are now posted. The distribution of grades (among people who took the final exam) was 7 A's, 8 B's, 3 C's, 2 D's, and 2 F's. There was 1 incomplete.
• 6 May 1999: The final versions of the DLX OS and dlxsim have been released. They're available on linux.gl in the same places you found the previous versions. Also, the project due date is now May 12th.
• 30 Apr 1999: The due date for Project #2 has been extended to May 10th. No late projects will be accepted.
• 28 Apr 1999: The final exam will be given at the university-scheduled time: Monday, May 17th from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM in CP 210 (the same room that class meets in).
• 28 Apr 1999: Homework #5 is now available, and is due on Wednesday, May 5 in class.
• 21 Apr 1999: There have been some small bug fixes in the assembler, compiler, and DLX OS. In particular, there's now code to read data from executable DLX files (and, yes, it has been tested, and it reads the data fine). You can use this code to read in programs like your shell to run them.
• 14 Apr 1999: The final Project #2 assignment is now available on the Web. The OS files (as well as the assembler, compiler, and simulator) have been updated. If you're using the versions on gl, you'll just need a new copy of dlxos. If you're doing this at home, you'll need to rebuild the compiler and simulator. There are still some minor changes necessary to the assembler and dlxos necessary to make loading programs easier. These changes will be announced on the Web page.
• 31 Mar 1999: Project #2 will be assigned on April 5th to give the new TA a chance to look it over before helping students. I apologize for the delay, but I want to make sure that the TA can help students before assigning the project.
• 12 Mar 1999: IMPORTANT: the DLX software only runs under Linux. You can use any of the following Linux systems; for more details please see the project information page.
  • Any of the PC workstations on campus that can boot Linux.
  • Your Linux system at home.
  • The UCS server linux.gl.umbc.edu. NOTE: This server will likely be heavily loaded, and thus slow.
• 12 Fri 1999: We will be getting a different TA after spring break. Because of the switchover, one of the projects will be dropped from the class. We will now have three projects (instead of four). Project #2 will be assigned March 31, 1999.
• 10 Mar 1999: The midterm will be given in class on 29 Mar 1999. It will cover all of the class material through address spaces and system calls. Solutions to all homework assignments will be available on 17 Mar 1999.
• 10 Mar 1999: Homework #3 has been assigned, and is due on 17 Mar 1999.
• 3 Mar 1999: Homework #2 has been assigned.
• 1 Mar 1999: Project #1 has been assigned. Please read the project information page for details on how to use the DLX compiler, assembler, and simulator.
• 24 Feb 1999: Grades are now available online. The password you'll need to access your grades has been emailed to you.
• 22 Feb 1999: Project #1 will be assigned on either February 24th or March 1st.
• 22 Feb 1999: Submissions may now be made in HTML, in addition to the other choices currently available. Please see the page describing CMSC 421 submit for further information on submitting homework.
• 19 Feb 1999: Details on how to submit assignments is now available.
• 15 Feb 1999: Homework #1 has been assigned.
• 25 Jan 1999: The first class will be held on February 1, 1999 in CP 210.