Pre-Course Review (PCR) of Prior Offerings Form
Course Name: Introduction to Operating Systems Course No.: CS-520 A Session: Fall
Instructor: Igor Faynberg
Date: August 28, 2012
This form is for you to indicate how assessment results of prior offerings have helped you to plan an improved
offering this semester.
1. List the materials from prior offerings of this course (and possibly other courses)
that you have reviewed as part of your preparation to teach this course this term.
Clearly indicate the course numbers, semesters offered, and types of materials
reviewed in each case.
I have taught this course for the past 10 years, the last time in the Fall Semester of 2011. I
have reviewed all documentation (PCR, ICE, and SPAD) from the Fall 2011 offering. I have
always reviewed students’ assessments carefully. I am also regularly checking the current
literature (i.e., new OS book editions and publications) as well as OS course pages at
Columbia, Princeton, and University of Pennsylvania to ensure that the program is up to
date.
2. Indicate any resulting adjustments in your teaching plan based on your review of
the above materials. That is, what, if any, improvements are suggested by the
assessment results from prior courses?
I am planning to emphasize Cloud Computing. To this end, I will add material that helps
students understand virtualization. In addition, to reflect the industry movement to replace
PC with the browser, I will spend more time on the Web matters and also on Real-time
Multimedia (in the I/O lecture).
Overall, my goal remains to make the study most relevant to the current industry needs and
trends.
3. Indicate which outcomes will be covered by this offering of the course. This
information will be used to ensure that the program is covering all of its outcomes
adequately. Therefore, it is important that you underestimate rather than
overestimate the outcomes you plan to cover; i.e., if you are unsure that a particular
outcome will be covered then do not mention it.
I plan to cover all 13 outcomes, deeming all of them necessary, as follows:
Program outcome (see list at
www.stevens.edu/compsci/
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Course outcome
Instrument to be used for
this course outcome
accreditation/prog_out.html)
2. [design] Be experienced with
design and implementation of a
significant software artifact.
2.[design] Be experienced with
design and implementation of a
significant software artifact.
3. [expertise] Possess deep
1. Explain how memory is
allocated among multiple
processes. (runtime)
Final
2. Explain how the data
structures of the UNIX
file system serve to map
file names to blocks of a
storage device.
(hardware-interface)
Homework # 6, problem #9
3. Explain the value and
dangers of in-memory
caching of file system
disk blocks; describe the
algorithms for checking
block and file
consistency. (runtime)
Homework assignment #6,
4. Explain how virtual
memory is implemented
with paging and
segmentation. (runtime)
Final exam problems ## 3 and
5. Explain in detail how a
virtual address is
translated into a physical
address on at least one
common hardware
architecture. (hardwareinterface)
Quiz
6. Explain the value and
drawbacks of “nontraditional” hardware
architectures for
supporting virtual
memory; e.g., inverted
page table and TLB-only.
(hardware-interface)
Homework #5, problem #5.
knowledge in at least one
significant sub-area of
computer science.
2. [design] Be experienced with
design and implementation of a
significant software artifact.
2. [design] Be experienced with
design and implementation of a
significant software artifact.
2. [design] Be experienced with
design and implementation of a
significant software artifact.
[design] Be experienced with
design and implementation of a
significant software artifact.
3. [expertise] Possess deep
knowledge in at least one
significant sub-area of
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problems ## 7 and 8;
Final exam, problem #6
4
computer science.
2. [design] Be experienced
with design and implementation
of a significant software
artifact.
1. [development] Program
competently in at least one
major general purpose
7. List causes of interrupts
and traps and explain
how an operating
system, in concert with
hardware support,
services interrupts and
systems call traps.
(hardware-interface)
Midterm exam, problems ## 3
8. Implement a C program
that uses UNIX’s file
system interface.
(software)
Homework assignment # 6,
9. Analyze proofs of some
classic concurrency
protocols and devise
similar protocols with
some conditions
changed. (problemsolving)
Homework assignment #1,
10. Apply semaphores to
solving a wide range of
multi-processing
synchronization
problems. (concurrency)
Homework assignment #1,
and 4
problem #10.
programming language.
2. [design] Be experienced with
design and implementation of a
significant software artifact.
2. [design] Be experienced with
design and implementation of a
significant software artifact.
3. [expertise] Possess deep
knowledge in at least one
Problems ##1, 2, 3, 8, and 10;
Midterm exam, problem #1.
significant sub-area of
computer science.
2. [design] Be experienced with
design and implementation of a
significant software artifact.
problems ## 9 and 10;
Homework assignment #4,
problem #7;
Final exam, problem #1
1. [development] Program
competently in at least one
major general purpose
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11. Apply the deadlock
detection algorithm to a
given state of a system
of processes and
Homework #4 (all problems
together)
programming language.
2. [design] Be experienced with
resources, and
determine whether a
given state of a system is
safe. (concurrency)
Final exam, problem #2
design and implementation of a
significant software artifact.
1. [development] Program
competently in at least one
major general purpose
programming language.
2. [design] Be experienced
with design and implementation
12. Develop discrete-eventbased simulation
programs using the
pseudo-random number
generators and apply
these programs to
simulating process
scheduling in operating
systems. (software)
Homework assignments ##2
13. Explain the principles of
OS security, basic types
of attacks, and common
countermeasures.
(runtime).
Final exam, problems ## 7 and
and 3.
of a significant software
artifact.
2. [design] Be experienced with
design and implementation of a
significant software artifact.
8.
3. [expertise] Possess deep
knowledge in at least one
significant sub-area of
computer science.
Extend this table as needed to accommodate all instruments that will be used to cover outcomes. If you use multiple
instruments for a single course outcome, list each instrument on a separate line.
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