University Acadia Jodrey School of Computer Science COMP 3713X1 Operating Systems Fall 2008 MWF 1:30 2:30
Dr. James Diamond [e-mail]
HSH 137
Oce hours (CAR 409) 8:309:30, 2:303:30 MW other times by appointment
(More material, including course overview, here RSN.) Textbook information: The main textbook for this course is Operating System Concepts by Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne (2009 (sic)), 8th edition. A reference book, UNIX Systems Programming, 2nd edition, by Haviland, Gray and Salama (1999) should be on reserve in the library. Course Materials and Communication: Moodle will not normally be used; course materials (such as this document) will be found at http://cs.acadiau.ca/~jdiamond/comp3713/; I recommend you bookmark this URL for convenient access. I will be sending assignments out via e-mail or the newsgroup (see next paragraph), either referring to the above web page or as attachments. There is a newsgroup acadia.cs.3713 which you should monitor. Questions of a general nature can be directed to this newsgroup. The tutors have been asked to monitor this newsgroup and to answer questions, as appropriate. Please submit questions of a general nature to this newsgroup, rather than e-mailing me personally (I will also be monitoring the newsgroup and answering questions there). Naturally, personal inquiries or questions which would give away the solution to assignment questions should be sent to me, rather than to this newsgroup. Also consider using the newsgroup acadia.cs.linux for questions about general Linux issues. Getting Help: To help you get the most out of this course, keep the following things in mind: dont be shy to ask questions in class: not only are there other people (probably) wondering the same thing, but the benet of being able to ask questions is what separates a regular course from a self-study course; if you have questions you dont feel are appropriate to ask during the class, see me in my oce; if other classes prevent you from being able to see me during my published oce hours, e-mail or phone me and we can schedule an alternative time to meet; as mentioned above, there is a newsgroup for this course; please make use of it;
the tutors will be having contact hours during the week (times to be announced); they are being paid to help, dont hesitate to go and see them; the School of Computer Science hires a co-op student each term; among his many tasks is providing help to students who need some assistance. This term the student is Chris Fry, and he can be found in CAR 208; and you should feel free to discuss the course material with anyone you please. . . however, keep in mind that discussing the course material is considerably dierent from getting someone else to do your work; please read the next section carefully! Academic Integrity: Students are referred to both the Academic Integrity section of the university calendar and to the marking scheme found below. Cheating of any kind will not be tolerated. In accordance with School of Computer Science policy, on a rst oence, the violator will normally receive full negative credit for the assignment or test; that is 100%, even if the cheating was only on one question. Further, the violators nal grade shall be capped at 70%. Subsequent oences shall result in failing the course. All incidents are reported both to the School of Computer Science and to registrars the oce, who may themselves impose further penalties. You may certainly discuss assignments with your fellow students, but remember that your solution must represent your work, not that of someone else. If you can not answer a question a few hours after a discussion without referring to notes from the discussion, then you have not grasped the material and using your notes to answer an assignment question would constitute a breach of academic integrity. If you have any questions about these policies, please ask me before something happens, rather than after. In particular, loaning your assignment solution to someone else is considered cheating for both the loaner and the borrower. Evaluation: Regular attendance in classes is expected. There may be short quizzes, not previously announced, at the whim of the instructor. The grades from the quizzes will form part of the midterm grade. Class participation bonus points shall be given at my discretion. There shall be a number of assignments, typically announced via e-mail and/or in class, and typically handed in a subsequent during class. There shall be a midterm held the third or fourth week of October. The actual date shall be announced in class no later than one week in advance of the midterm. Final grades are based on the following scheme. Let E be your exam grade, M be your midterm grade (which includes the grades for any quizzes), A be your assignment grade, B be your class participation bonus grade, and F be your nal grade, all except B expressed as percentages. F is computed as follows:
F = 0.4 * E + 0.1 * M + 0.2 * A + B if E < 40 then Take careful note of F += 0.3 * E these if statements!!! else if E > 50 F += 0.2 * max(E, M) + 0.1 * max(E, A) else F += 0.02 * ((E - 40) * max(E, M) + (50 - E) * E) + 0.01 * ((E - 40) * max(E, A) + (50 - E) * E) if M < 40 then F = min(F, M); if A < 50 then F = min(F, A); Finally, this grade is adjusted as described above for anyone caught cheating. If you have questions about the marking of any...