This course is about the design and implementation of operating systems, which provide a crucial layer of abstraction between hardward and application programs. A knowledge of operating systems is essential for understanding how large systems are put together.

The course will used the following textbook:

Operating System Concepts, 8th edition Silberschatz, Galvin, Gagne

Note: the textbook will be a little late at the bookstore, but it should be available by August 27.

Schedule Page

The course schedule page contains a tentative schedule, which will be revised throughout the semester. Reading assignments, handouts, and notes for each lecture will be posted on the schedule page.

Project assignments and solutions are also attached to the schedule page.

cs5460@list.eng.utah.edu

Students must subscribe to this list. It is used by the teaching staff for class announcements, such as project clarifications. To sign up for this list, visit https://sympa.eng.utah.edu/sympa/info/cs5460

Final grades will be calculated by combining project and exam grades as follows:

(The original grading scale, before we replaced mid-term 3 with another project: 50% projects, 15% mid-term 1, 15% mid-term 2, 20% mid-term 3.)

Late policy: Project submissions will be accepted up to 48 hours after the deadline. For each student, up to two late project submissons will be accepted without penalty. After a student's first two late submissions, a late submission within 24 hours of the deadline will be penalized 25%. A submission more than 24 hours late but less than 48 hours late will be penalized 50%.

Collaboration policy:

Working with others on assignments is a good way to learn the material and we encourage it. However, there are limits to the degree of cooperation that we will permit.

When working on programming assignments, you must work only with others whose understanding of the material is approximately equal to yours. In this situation, working together to find a good approach for solving a programming problem is cooperation; listening while someone dictates a solution is cheating. You must limit collaboration to a high-level discussion of solution strategies, and stop short of actually writing down a group answer. Anything that you hand in, whether it is a written problem or a computer program, must be written in your own words. If you base your solution on any other written solution, you are cheating.

When taking a quiz or exam, you must work completely independently of everyone else. Any collaboration here, of course, is cheating.

We do not distinguish between cheaters who copy other's work and cheaters who allow their work to be copied.

If you cheat, you will be given an E in the course and referred to the University Student Behavior Committee. If you have any questions about what constitutes cheating, please ask.