CSC 308 Operating System

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. recognise operating system types and structures;
2. describe OS support for processes and threads;
3. recognise CPU scheduling, synchronisation, and deadlock;
4. resolve OS issues related to synchronisation and failure for distributed systems;
5. explain OS support for virtual memory, disk scheduling, I/O, and file systems;
6. identify security and protection issues in computer systems; and
7. use C and Unix commands, examine behaviour and performance of Linux, and develop
   various system programmes under Linux to make use of OS concepts related to process
   synchronisation, shared memory, mailboxes, file systems, etc.
   
   Course Contents
   Fundamentals of operating systems design and implementation. History and evolution of
   operating systems. Types of operating systems. Operating system structures. Process
   management: processes, threads, CPU scheduling, process synchronisation. Memory
   management and virtual memory. File systems; I/O systems; Security and protection;
   Distributed systems; Case studies.
   
   Lab work: Practical hands-on engagement to facilitate understanding of the material taught
   in the course. All the process, memory, file and directory management issues will be
   demonstrated under the LINUX operating system. Also UNIX commands will be briefly
   discussed. Alternatively, hands-on exposure may be through the use of operating systems
   developed for teaching, like TempOS, Nachos, Xinu or MiniOS. Another possibility is through
   programming exercises that implement and simulate algorithms taught. Simulation of CPU
   scheduling algorithms, producer-consumer problem, memory allocation algorithms, file
   organisation techniques, deadlock algorithms and disk scheduling algorithms.