CSE 760 : Advanced Operating Systems
Autumn 2009
Course Syllabus

Course Objective:
The goal of this course is to cover advanced topics in the design of operating systems and distributed systems, focusing on process synchronization, deadlocks, foundations of distributed systems, mutual exclusion, recovery, fault tolerance, and other related topics.

Text Book:
Distributed Systems, by Tanenbaum and van Steen (Primary Text)
Advanced Concepts in Operating Systems, by Singhal and Shivratri (Additional Reading)
Prerequisite:
CSE 660 (Operating Systems) or Equivalent

Course Contents:
The following is a tentative list. Topics may be added or deleted as we go through the quarter.

Introduction to distributed systems
Synchronization Mechanisms
Mutual exclusion
Interprocess communication
Distributed Mutual Exclusion
Deadlocks
Fault Tolerance
Coherence in distributed systems
Other misc. related topics

Grading:
The course will be graded as follows:

1.: Homework Assignments: 20 points
2.: Mid-term Examination: 30 points
3.: Final Examination: 40 points
4.: Best of 2 or 3: 10 points

General Instructions:

Home-work Assignments: 4-5 homework assignments will be given during the quarter and they will be evaluted by your grader. Homeworks will be due in class, by the end of the class time. Late submissions will not be accepted, unless there are compelling circumstances and the instructor has been informed in advance. All graded work must be students' own work.
Exams: Two exams will be given in the quarter. The mid-term examination will be conducted roughly in the middle of the quarter. The exact date will be announced later. The final examination will be held during the final exam week, as scheduled by the registrar.
Slides: Slides from lectures will generally be made available online. However, this will only be after the lecture, or at the end of the week. Copies of some slides will be distributed as handouts at beginning of each class - these will be the ones with detailed examples, algorithms, etc.