Operating Systems Principles

CSC 501 (001, 601), Fall 2026

Course Information

   
Instructor Man-Ki Yoon
Class Room 2232 EB3
Class Hours M/W 3:00–4:15 pm
Office Hours M/W 4:15–5:15 pm (3254 EB2 or Zoom)
Teaching Assistant Andrew Robie
Online Tools Moodle, Ed Discussion, Gradescope, GitHub

Course Description

The goal of this course is for students to understand advanced topics in operating systems: scheduling, virtual memory, synchronization, and file systems. Students will also carry out a semester-long term project, in which they design, implement, and evaluate an operating systems component of their own choosing, and present the results at the end of the semester.

Prerequisites

CSC 246 (Concepts and Facilities of Operating Systems for Computer Scientists), CSC 316 (Data Structures), and programming competence in C (not C++) and Unix.

Course Materials

Required Textbook

Remzi H. Arpaci-Dusseau and Andrea C. Arpaci-Dusseau, Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces

Lecture Notes

Lecture notes will be uploaded on Moodle.

Acknowledgement: This course includes materials provided by Dr. Remzi H. Arpaci-Dusseau, Dr. Vincent Freeh, Dr. Xiaohui Gu, Dr. Xuxian Jiang, Dr. Xiaosong Ma, Dr. Frank Meuller, Dr. Xipeng Shen, and Dr. Guoliang Jin.

Optional Textbooks

Thomas Anderson and Michael Dahlin, Operating Systems: Principles and Practice, 2/3, Recursive Books (2014). Douglas Comer, Operating System Design: The Xinu Approach, 2/e, Chapman and Hall/CRC (2015).
William Stalling, Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles, 7/e, Prentice Hall (2011).
Andrew S. Tanenbaum and Hebert Bos, Modern Operating Systems, 4/e, Prentice Hall (2014).
Abraham Silberschatz, Peter B Galvin, Greg Gagne, Operating System Concepts, 10/e, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2018).

Course Structure and Grading Policy

The table below shows the percentage-based breakdown of how each requirement will factor into the overall grade.

   
Programming Assignments (3 PAs) 45%
Exam (1 x 20%) 20%
Term Project 35%
Total 100%

See here for attendance and late assignment policies.