COSC 6360 Operating Systems
Jehan-François Pâris
jfparis@uh.edu
Fall 2015
Course organization
• COSC 6360 is a survey course
– No textbook
• Reading list is entirely on-line
• All papers are required reading
– Supplemental papers will be covered more
lightly than regular papers
Our TA
• Carlos Rincon
– Email:
carincon AT uh DOT edu
– Hours: MW from 1pm to 2pm
– Office: PGH 313
Administrative details
• Instructor:
• E-mail:
Jehan-François Pâris
jfparis AT uh DOT edu
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•
•
•
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569 PGH
713-743-3341 (office hours)
MW 4:30-5:00 & 7:15-7:45 pm
www.cs.uh.edu/~paris
jehanfrancois
Office:
Phone:
Office Hours:
Web page:
Twitter:
The papers (II)
• My selection of papers is based upon
– Importance of Contribution: UNIX, NFS
– Actuality of Contribution: ARC, Corey, …
– Importance of the Topic: most papers
– New Insight: FAWN, RAFT
– Best paper from last SOSP
Accessing the papers
• Papers that are put on line should only be used
for instructional purposes
• They are freely accessible from within the UH
domain
• From outside the UH domain, please use:
– Login: cosc6360
– Password: cl*ss (replace the * by a letter)
How to read a paper
• Download it first
• Start reading first
– The abstract to get a general idea
– The conclusions to see which ideas worked
– Read very attentively the parts of the paper I
discuss in class
– Skim the rest (unless you are a slow reader)
Grading policy
• Grade will be based on
– Five quizzes (75%)
– One term project (25%)
• Attendance is expected from all
– You can expect one or two pop quizzes
• Can boost your grades by up to 1 percent
The papers (I)
• Thirty-something papers covering ten major themes
– UNIX
– Memory Management
– Caching
– Kernel Structures
– Distributed Systems Issues
– P2P Systems
– File Systems and Distributed File Systems
– Fault-Tolerance (Byzantine failures)
– Power Management
The quizzes (I)
•
Will take place every three weeks:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Monday, September 14
Monday, October 5
Monday ,October 26
Monday, November 16
Monday, December 7 at 5:30 pm
(advanced by general demand)
The quizzes
• Will cover the readings of the previous weeks
– You will be responsible for all the topics
discussed in class
• Will be closed-book
– Can bring one single-sided page of notes
Hints for the quizzes
• I like to ask
– Short problems
– Questions on advantages and disadvantages
of specific solutions
• Objective is to test that you can put to work the
concepts you have learned
• Will have an ungraded homework before
each quiz
The term project
• A personal investigation of some particular topic
of operating systems or distributed systems
• Should ideally include some original research
(measurements, simulations and so forth)
• Report should be
– eight to ten double-spaced pages plus
references
– twelve pages or more for a mere survey paper
If you do a survey paper
• Ideally should start with a dozen of sources
• Your paper should not focus on a single source
– Especially if it has been discussed in class
• I appreciate papers
– Describing in some detail various approaches
to a given problem
– Analyzing the advantages and disadvantages
of these solutions
Submitting your report
• Two copies in my mailbox by due date.
• Have both copies stapled in the upper left corner
• Use a reasonable point size
– 11-point for single column paper
• Set reasonable margins (1" top and bottom, either
1" or 1.25" left and right)
• Use standard ACM or IEEE formats for your list of
references
Formatting options
• Single-column double-spaced:
– Traditional manuscript format
– Use 1" or 1.25" margins and point size 11
• Two-column single-spaced:
– Most current conference submission format
– Use 1" margins and point size 10.
– Never use double-space in a two-column paper
Academic honesty
• No cheating or plagiarism will be tolerated in
any graded assignment
• You cannot
– Lift entire sentences without quoting them
– Follow the overall organization of any
document that you did not write.
• The minimum penalty for any transgression
will be an F grade for the course
More tips
• Figures have captions
– Go below the figure
– Captions have numbers
• Tables have titles
– Go above the table
– Table titles have numbers
Selecting a term project
• For a survey paper, select a topic that is
– Neither too vast nor too limited
– Discussed a reasonable number of sources
– Not a dead topic
• For a more experimental paper, select a topic
that interests you and can be pursued within the
scope of the course
• Group projects are welcome
You have
been
warned!
Unless you want to fly back home …
YOUR
NAME
HOUSTON IAH
YOUR
NAME
YOUR HOME
YOUR HOME
Your family will be so proud of you!
Semester Timetable
Paper proposal
First quiz
Second quiz
Third quiz
Fourth quiz
Paper due
Wednesday, September 16
Monday, September 14
Monday, October 5
Monday ,October 26
Monday, November 16
Two hard copies by Thursday,
December 10 at 4 pm sharp
Last quiz
Friday, December 11 at 5:00 pm
(could be advanced if asked)
My last word
•
Please verify that your PeopleSoft account has
your correct email address:
– I need it to get in touch with you