COMP 321: Introduction to Computer Systems

Course Schedule For Spring 2025

Note: This schedule is subject to change.  Also, the lecture topic dates are approximate, as the topics do not divide exactly into a whole number of class days each.

Date Lecture Reading Laboratory Assignments
Out Due
Tue 1/14 Overview;
Kernel vs. Processes		 C Refresher
Wed 1/15
Thu 1/16 System-level I/O: Basics B&O Chapter 10
Tue 1/21 Lecture Cancelled Lab Cancelled
Wed 1/22
Thu 1/23 Programs and Processes B&O Chapter 8
Tue 1/28 Environment Variables: PATH Shell
Wed 1/29
Thu 1/30 Signals
Tue 2/4 Some fork() "Puzzles";
Introduction to Networking		 B&O Chapter 8, 11 Thread Context
Wed 2/5
Thu 2/6 I/O Multiplexing and Non-blocking I/O B&O Chapter 10
Tue 2/11 Threads Networking
Wed 2/12 Threads Shell
Thu 2/13 No Lecture (Spring Recess)
Tue 2/18 Some Notes on Thread Scheduling;
Dynamic Memory Allocation: Introduction		 B&O Chapter 9, 10, 12 Event-driven Concurrency
Wed 2/19
Thu 2/20 Dynamic Memory Allocation: Introduction;
Dynamic Memory Allocation: Implicit Free Lists		 B&O Chapter 9
Tue 2/25 Dynamic Memory Allocation: Implicit Free Lists;
Dynamic Memory Allocation: Explicit Free Lists		 Implicit Free List Memory Allocator
Wed 2/26
Thu 2/27 Virtual Memory: Paging Threads
Tue 3/4 Virtual Memory: The Page Table Midterm Review
Wed 3/5 Midterm Exam (7-9pm)
Thu 3/6 Virtual Memory: Demand Paging B&O Chapter 9 Malloc
Tue 3/11 Other Uses of Paging Support Memory Allocator Profiling
Wed 3/12
Thu 3/13 Some Other Topics in Demand Paging
Tue 3/18 No Lecture (Spring Break) No Lab (Spring Break)
Wed 3/19
Thu 3/20 No Lecture (Spring Break)
Tue 3/25 Review: File Descriptor Behavior;
Viewing Mapped Memory Regions		 Mmap
Wed 3/26
Thu 3/27 Additional I/O Functions Checkpointing Malloc
Tue 4/1 Advanced Signal Handling;
Introduction to File Systems		 B&O Chapter 9 Mprotect and SIGSEGV
Wed 4/2
Thu 4/3 Representing Files in File Systems OS:TEP
Chapter 39 and
Chapter 40
Tue 4/8 Persistence and Consistency in File Systems File Systems
Wed 4/9
Thu 4/10 Naming in File Systems KVStore Checkpointing
Mon 4/14 KVStore Checkpointing
Tue 4/15 File System Kernel and Library Calls Software Caching
Wed 4/16
Thu 4/17 Protection Concepts and Methods OS:TEP
Chapter 53,
Chapter 55, and
Chapter 56
Tue 4/22 Security Attacks and Lessons Final Exam Review
Wed 4/23
Thu 4/24 Introduction to Cryptographic-Based Security KVStore
Fri 4/25 KVStore

"OS:TEP" is "Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces", a free online operating systems textbook by Remzi H. Arpaci-Dusseau, Andrea C. Arpaci-Dusseau, and Peter Reiher.