Friday, December 23, 2011

OS Next Class

As explained in the last class, we will cancel the Operating Systems class on January 4 in consideration of the students who spend the New Year holidays with their families outside Fukushima. Make up classes will be given as follows:

  • The make up class for the lecture will be arranged on the 2nd week of January.
  • The exercise problems will be given as a homework and will be posted on the 1st week of January. You will have (minimum) three whole days to work on the problems.
More detail will be posted on this board.

happy holidays

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

OS Exercise 11 Posted

Today's exercise problems have been posted at the Exercise page. The deadline is at 1210 today.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Email from SAD was incorrect

You must have received (and might have read) email from Student Affairs Division, that notified you the change of classroom. However, it was INCORRECT. Please read the following article on this board: " OS Lecture at S1 This Week".

Always, the information published by the instructor supesedes other sources.

Monday, December 19, 2011

OS Exercise 7 Grade Correction

Grades for Exercise 7 of the Operating Systems have been revised. If you checked your grade earlier, please check it again at TA's page

OS Lecture at S1 This Week

We will begin with the Exercise class at RQ280 (CALL 2) for the first two periods, and will have the lecture at one of RQ275 classrooms, S1 (not LH204).

Midterm Exam and Exercise 7 Graded

Midterm exam and Exercise 7 have been graded and TA posted them on his Grade page (internal access only).

Friday, December 16, 2011

OS Exercise 10 Posted

Exercise 10 has been posted at the Exercise Page. This is a post-lecture exercise and the deadline is December 20, at 2359. Although the problems have been checked, if any errors (such as typos) are found, they will be corrected and the announcement will be posted here. Students who have found any possible errors may report (or ask questions) to the instructor by email.

Amendments to the Exercise Rules and Policies

The following sentences are added to the Exercise Policies and Rules .

Unless otherwise noted, you may use materials, such as books or Internet sites for references for the exercise. However, such material can only be used for REFERENCE. Using such materials directly (for example, copying source code or copy and paste texts) is not allowed. Such an act will be considered academic dishonesty and will receive penalty.

We also plan to check the attendance of students at the beginning of the exercise class (students who are not present may not submit their work). This has been considered unnecessary in the past (and actually was not needed). Unfortunately, this year, several cases of 'unfair' acts have been observed which resulted in the amendments of the rules. However, most students will not be affected by these rules.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

OS Exercise 6 Graded

TA has graded Exercise 6 and posted grades on his grade page (internal access only).

OS Exercise 9 posted

Today's pre-lecture exercise problems have been posted at the Exercise page. Please note that the submission deadline is by the end of the 2nd period.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

OS This Week

As you must have found in the calendar, we will work on the exercise assignments for the first two periods in the lab (RQ 280) and then lecture will be given during the 3rd period at LH 204. We will try to finish Chapter 3 (or proceed as far as we can).

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Mid-Term Exam and Quiz

The review of the mid-term exam and Quiz 1 are extra credit assignments. Therefore, their credits will be added on top of the total points (which consist of mid-term, exercises and final).

From today, we have started pre-lecture execise problems and it is expected that we will have more exercise problems than the past. Therefore, we plan to increase the maximum number of exercise submissions that each student can miss.

From Syllabus:

If a student miss more than three (four) exercises by the mid-term (final) exam, he/she will automatically fail the course. One excuse can be granted if the reason of absence is out of his/her control and proved by an official document (such as doctor's note).

OS Exercise 7 posted

Today's exercise problems have been posted at the Exercise page. Please note that the submission deadline is at the beginning of the 3rd period.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

OS This week (and calendar)

This week, we will begin the class with the exercise at the lab (RQ280, or CALL2) for the first two periods and will have a lecture in LH204 (M4) in the afternoon. The lecture will cover Sections 3.3 "Virtual Memory" and 3.4 "Replacement Algorithm."

Due to technical issues, the URL of the Course Calendar has been revised. If you have added this to your calendar, please replace it with the new one.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

OS Exercise and Quiz Graded

Exercise 5 and Quiz 1 have been graded and TA has posted them at grade page.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

OS Exercise this week

As mentioned in the calendar, we will review the problems of the mid-term exam during this week's exercise class. Please come with the same preparation as the mid-term exam (and having reviewed the problems you could not solve).

Course Calendar

As you might have noticed, a Google calendar for my coureses has been created. Click the "+ Google calendar" button at the bottom right of the page to include it into your Google calendar.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Office Hours

If you need to see the instructor today, please contact by email first. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Friday, November 11, 2011

OS Proceed to Chapter 3

On November 30 (ah more than tweeks from now), we will proceed to Chapter 3 "MEMORY MANAGEMENT" and should cover up to Section 3.3 "Virtual Memory." These sections are your reading assignments.

In this class, students are not allowed to submit exercise problems after the class. This means you should have some extra hours between classes (compared to other classes which allow you late submissions). Please use this time for reviewing the materials taught last week, and preparing for the class next week.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

OS Exercise 6 posted

Today's exercise problems have been posted at the Exercise page. Please note that the submission deadline is at 1210 today (i.e. at the end of the 2nd period).

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Office Hours Today

Due to the classes for today and tomorrow (and also for the preparation of the business trip), I won't be available for today's office hours. If you're taking my OS course, please ask questions during the class. If you're not my OS course student, just come after the class and I can talk to your for a while (or contact me for an appointment).

Saturday, November 5, 2011

OS Execise Submission Rule Amendament for Mid-Term

We set the following rule on the Execise submission in the Syllabus:

If a student miss more than three (four) exercises by the mid-term (final) exam, he/she will automatically fail the course. One excuse can be granted if the reason of absence is out of his/her control and proved by an official document (such as doctor's note).
This semester, we have a tight schedule between last two execises and the mid-term exam. Therefore, we will change the above rule as follows:
To take the mid-term exam, each student must have two or more valid execise submissions (graded as 0.5 or higher) for Execises 1 to 4.
One exception can still be granted with a supporting document as mentioned above (original rule). Please check your grade at the grade page (maintaind by the TA; internal access only). If you ask for the "one execuse" rule, contact the instructor immediately.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

OS Examination Policies and Rules

For the mid-term exam planned next week, please read Examination Policies and Rules again throughly. "I didn't know this..." can never be an execuse for violations to the rules.

OS You may need a calculator

For the mid-term exam next week, you may need a calculator. Please note that you MAY NOT use a smart phone as it has more functionalities than calculator.

OS Exercise 5 posted

Today's exercise problems have been posted at the Exercise page.

Friday, October 28, 2011

OS Exercise Submission Scripts

Every week, you might feel that the file name of the command script for exercise submission is lengthy. If so, you should include the course directory into your command path. For example, add the following line into .cshrc

set path = ($path /home/course/os11f6/Ex)
if you're using csh (or alike), or
PATH=$PATH:/home/course/os11f6/Ex
export PATH
into .bash_profile for bash users. Now you can just type the file name (for example, ex2-test rather than /home/course/os11f6/Ex/ex2-test).

Thesis Topics

Here are topics of the senior project for the current sophomore students (You can find the same information on the school's system)

  1. Workload Analysis and Performance Evaluation

    You will learn and investigate how hardware components (such as CPU, memory, disks, network interface) interact with various workload.

  2. Save paper, saver printer toner, and save energy

    We still depent on paper-based procedures for doing many things. Also, some poeple say "online" for justing posting pdf files of the forms on the web but we still have to print them out and fill the forms by hand. In this project, we try to modernize such legacy procedures by publicly available resources (such as Google Apps).

You can find past students' theses in
https://sites.google.com/a/oslab.biz/public/Home/theses-1

Please refer to our group's web at
http://www.oslab.biz/

Please contact the instructor by email or in person during his office hours.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

OS Exercise Grade

TA has posted the grades of up to Exercise 3 on his page. The access is limited from u-aizu.ac.jp domain.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

OS Grading Scheme may be revised

The instructor is currently considering the revision of the grading scheme. Right now, it is Midterm Exam (30%), Final Exam (40%) and Execise (30%).

The exercise problems are for helping you better understand the materials taught in the course (through lectures and the textbook). However, some students are just sitting last rows and not participating the class (or even skiping the lectures), and trying to solve the exercise problems without understanding the course materials (courese subjects). Please be advised that these are the behavior of the students who failed the course in the previous years (mentioned in the course overview slides).

When the decision is made, it will be posted on this board.

OS ID for retrieving your grade

Students registered with my Operating Systems course must have received email with OS_ID as the subject. You will find a number in the email message and we will use this number as your ID when showing the grade for exercise ( posted at the page maintained by the TA). Please keep it securely.

OS Exercise 4 Notice

Your program may work (produce required output) without pthread libraries. However, we will check your source code and without apropriate uses of pthread libraries, you will receive substantial penalties on your submission.

OS Exersice 4 posted

Today's Exercise problem has been posted at the Exercise page.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Textbook

The instructor received email from the University Bookstore saying that they still have four copies of the textbook, Modern Operating Systems,but they will ruturn the books in early November. If you intend to buy the textbook, please do so ASAP.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

OS Next Week

As mentioned previously, we will cover Section 2.3 "Interprocess communication" next week, which should be one of the most interesting topics in Chapter 2. Section 2.3 is your reading assignment.

As a hint (or advice) for the exercise problem, it is likely to be a programming assingment in which you'll use pthread libraries.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

OS Execise 3 Posted

Today's exercise problem has been posted at the Exercise page.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Today's Office Hours

Today's office hours are changed, from 1430 to 1630. Sorry for any inconvenience this change might cause. Requests for appointments should be sent to the instructor by email and are always welcome.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

OS class room chages

From next week, we will use M4 classroom (Lecture Hall 204) for the lecture.

For the make-up class on 11/8, we will use M2 (Lecture Hall 202) from 1630 to 1800.

OS Next Week (and plans for next few weeks)

Next week, we will cover Section 2.2 "Threads" and this section is your reading assignment. Here are the schedule for the next few weeks:

  • 10/26: Section 2.3 "Interprocess communication"
  • 11/2: Section 2.4 "Scheduling" and Section 2.5 "Classical IPC problems"
  • 11/8: Section 6 "Deadlocks"
  • 11/9: Midterm Exam
You may have noticed that 11/8 is not Wednesday (but Tuesday). This is because the instructor will be on a business trip for a conference and the class on 11/16 will be cancelled. 11/8 is the make-up class for 11/16. We plan to do it on the 5th period of 11/8 (1630 to 1800). Details of the make-up class (including the classroom) and the midterm exam will be posted on this board later.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Exercise 2 Minimum Requirements

The following are the minimum requirements for an acceptable submission for Exercise 2.

  • Source code is compilation error free (warning messages that do not prevent execution are accepted, but receive penalty),
  • Main process (A) creates two child processes (B and C),
  • All processes (A, B and C) write user name, UID and PIDs.

OS Exercise 2 posted

Exercise 2 problems are posted at the Exercise Page.

Course Overview Slides

The slides used for the introduction to the course last week have been posted at the course page (or the direct link).

Friday, October 7, 2011

OS: Classroom Changed

The classroom for the Exercise section of the Operarting System has been changed to CALL 2 (Research Quadrangles 280).

Thursday, October 6, 2011

OS Next Week

On the next week (10/12), we will cover Section 2.1 "Processes" and possibly proceed to Section 2.2 "Threads" if time allows. These two sections are your reading* assignments.

*Reading doesn't mean just tracing the words on the textbook, you need to understand them.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

You may write in Japanaese

It seems that some students are not reading the first line of the Exercise page, which says

You may write your answers in Japanese.
.

Make-up classes

It is expected that the instructor will be on business trips on Nov 16 and 30. The make-up classes for these dates will be arranged and will be announced on this board.

OS Exercise 1 posted

Exercise 1 problems are posted at the Exercise Page.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Office Hours for the 2nd Semester, AY2011

Office hours for the 2nd semester of AY2011 are Tuesday 1400 to 1600. Please note that this office hour schedule is subject to revision and may be changed in accordance with other class/lab schedules.

(Any changes should be posted on this board).

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

OS Course Syllabus

Tentative syllabus for the Operating Systems course has been posted (there may be corrections and refinements as it is still tentative).

Monday, August 8, 2011

TA for OS Course

Sho Niboshi is going to be the teaching assistant for the Operating Systems course this year.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Textbook for Operating Systems Course

All students will shortly receive a reminder from SAD (or the bookstore) for the textbook order. We will use the same textbook as last year: Modern Operating Systems: International Version, 3/E by Andrew S. Tanenbaum.

If you order the textbook after the course has begun, it would take several weeks to receive the order. Therefore, it is strongly advised to order your copy of the textbook immediately.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Twitter Account for Courses

A twitter account for course related announcements:

Course Web Pages

The following course web pages have been created:

Operating Systems (for the 2nd semester this year)

Advanced Computer Architecture (for the 3rd quarter this year)

Advanced Operating Systems (a new graduate course proposed for beginning from the 3rd semester and currently under review of the Graudate Program Committee).

Please note that most part of pages are still place-holders and possibly inconsistent. Details will be added gradually and major changes should be announced here.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

OS Exercise Grade

Grading of exercise problems has been finished and the TA has updated his exercise grade page.

As mentioned in the syllabus, the exercise takes 30% of the final grade. The extra credit (2%) for Dr. Pedoroso's special lecture is also included in the above page.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Kazuaki Takahashi Thesis Presentation

Kazuaki Takahashi, who is a senior student in the instructor's group, will present his on Feb 10. Those who enjoyed the Operating System's class should also find the topic interesting. The presentation takes place in M1 (Lecturer Hall 201) on Feb 10, from 1400. The title is "Measurement of Virtualization Overhead in a Java Application Server." We may have a guest from University of Porto at the presentation.

Kazuaki Takahashi Thesis Presentation

Friday, January 28, 2011

Exercise Submission

Dear students, compared to last few years, this year we had great students and had many survivors in the class.*

As announced before the final exam yesterday, there are some students who missed five or more exercise submissions. According to the syllabus, these students disqualify for the course, unfortunately. However, the syllabus also says that an exception is granted if you have a valid reason. We are finalizing the grades for exercise problems, but the grade page maintained by the TA has only up to Exercise 11. If

  • You have missed three exercise submissions by Ex11,
  • consider your submissions for Ex12 and Ex13 were very poor, and
  • you have a valid reason which can be proved by a document
please contact the instructor immediately.

* The instructor agrees to some students who said "this class is normal, and ...", but let's say the other way around at this moment.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

OS Final Exam Today

The final exam of the operating systems takes place today. Please read Examination Policies and Rules once again.

Friday, January 21, 2011

OS Exercise 13 posted

Exercise 13 problems are posted at the Exercise Page.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Office Hours and Exercise Problem

  1. Due to the business trip, today is the last office hours before the final exam.
  2. For the exercise problem this week, it is planned to write a C-program that simulates the head movement algorithm of HDDs.

Monday, January 17, 2011

OS Exercise 12 posted

Exercise 12 problems are posted at the Exercise Page. As mentioned previously, any correction or advices will be posted at this board or sent by email. Please check your mailbox and this board.

Friday, January 14, 2011

OS Exercise, Next Week and Final Exam Schedule

  1. As announced in the class yesterday, this week's exercise problem will be posted during this weekend. The deadline of submission will be before Monday midnight (at 2359). Any hint, correction, notice or clarification will be posted on this board and/or sent by email. Also, I will try to make myself available for your question on the Monday afternoon.
  2. Next week, which will be the last day of the class, we will proceed to Chapter 5 "INPUT/OUTPUT." We will concentrate on the first four sections; especially Section 5.4 "disks", which is significantly related to what we have learned in Chapter 4 "File Systems." Once again, please read these sections of the textbook before coming to the class.
  3. The Student Affairs Division has announced the schedule of the final exam:

    http://www.u-aizu.ac.jp/images/ja/undergraduate/curriculum/curr06.pdf

    The final exam of our class will take place on the 5th period of January 27* at the Classroom M1 (Lecture Hall 201).

*Formerly written as January 25, but it was a typo.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Slides for Chapter 4

The slide on page 35 of Chapter 4 has flipped figures. It is fixed and you can access it from this page (internal access only).

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Classroom for this week's OS class

We will meet at Hardware Lab 4 (Research Quadangles 227) from 1910 on Thursday this week.

Monday, January 10, 2011

OS This Week

As announced during the last lecture, we are going meet on the 7th period of Thursday this week (i.e. from 1910 on January 13). The request for the classroom has already been submitted to the Student Affairs Division and we are waiting for their answer. We will post the classroom information as soon as we hear from them.

This class will replace the lecture of January 25 (Tuesday)

From campus calendar for the 2nd semester:

Tuesday, January 25: Classes normally held on Friday will be held on this day
The exercise problems will be take-home.

We will cover and finish the rest of Chapter 4 (Sections 4.4 to 4.7) and these sections are your reading assignments.

Friday, January 7, 2011

OS Exercise 11 posted

Today's exercise problems are posted at the Exercise Page.