Recitation Introduction

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Recitation Introduction
Alejandro CabreraOperating SystemsCOP4610 /
CGS5765
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Today's Recitation

• Syllabus Review
• Tips for Making the
• Grade in Operating Systems

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Experience Survey

• Please turn this in to me by
• the end of recitation.
• It will help make this a more
• rewarding course, as I will
• know better how to assist
• you in course project work.

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Projects Partners

• Projects will be completed in pairs.
• Choose a partner and send me an
• email with the name and email
• address of your partner.
• You need only submit one project
• per group.

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Projects Deliverables

• Source code (.cpp, .hpp files. )
• README
• Makefile
• Project Report

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Projects Grading

• 70 coding, 30 documentation
• Even if you can't get a project to compile, be
  sure to provide good documentation. You can still
  get 30 of the points!

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Projects Error Policy

• Document known errors/bugs.
• There's a bigger penalty if I find an error in
  your program that you did not.
• Document what you did not complete in a program,
  if a required feature is missing.
• It'll be easier to grade.

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Projects Slack Policy

• Each student has three days to use to extend
  project deadlines.
• Example A project is due Monday. You turn it in
  Wednesday. Two slack days are used, no penalty is
  incurred. On the next project, it's due on a
  Tuesday, you turn it in Wednesday- you're now out
  of slack days.
• Once you're out of slack days, you lose 10 points
  per day a project is late.
• A project that is more than three days late gets
  a 0.

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Projects Kernel Work

• The first two projects can be completed in
  user-space. This means that you can do them on
  linprog/program.
• The remaining projects involve kernel
  modification. You'll need to either
• Use the computers in LOV-016.
• Install Linux the kernel on your computer.

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Making the GradeA Note on Projects

• Start projects when they're assigned.
• They're often trickier than they look. Especially
  that synchronization project...
• Ask questions early.
• If you're asking questions, be it to yourself or
  to others, you're thinking about the project.
  This will make it easier to complete them
  correctly and on time.
• Write small programs to test your program or C
  language features you don't understand.
• What does execv(ls, -l) do?

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Making the Grade Tools that Make Your Life
Easier

• Debugger Look into ddd, gdb.
• What to look for in a code editor
• Minimum syntax highlighting
• Auto-formatting
• Multiple buffers/tabs to view multiple files
• Environment integration
• Compatible with Mac OS X/Windows/Linux
• Develop anywhere you go!
• My recommendation emacs

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Making the Grade Tools that Make Your Life
Easier

• Build system (make, scons, others...)
• Tired of typing
• gt gcc part1.c -c -Wall -Wstrict -g
• gt gcc part2.c -c -Wall -Wstrict -g
• gt gcc main.c part1.o part2.o -o main.x -Wall
• gt ./main.x
• ...to test your program?
• Use Makefiles instead to let the build system
  handle all this for you. Assuming a well-formed
  Makefile, this is all it takes to do the above
• gt make

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Making the Grade Tools that Make Your Life
Easier

• Version Control System (cvs, svn, git,
  mercurial...)
• Save all the versions of your code conveniently.
• Why version control? (for small projects)
• I changed some code, added some code, then it
  broke. It all broke. I couldn't remember all I
  did so I just started over.
• To avoid this, commit changes to your code every
  few steps using the VCS. You can revert to older
  versions at any time!
• My recommendation git or mercurial

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Making the Grade Tools that Make Your Life
Easier

• Good coding style
• You'll often have to go back to your program,
  read through your logic, and update it to fix
  errors.
• This is MUCH easier if you incorporate good
  coding style and practices from the start of a
  project.
• Compare

int check(char p) if(p NULL) return
true return false
int isNull(const char ptr) if(ptr NULL)
return TRUE return FALSE
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Making the GradeA Note on Exams

• Exams in this course are rarely multiple choice.
• Expect four types of questions
• Short programming questions related to projects.
• Fill-in-the-blank.
• Remember a process questions
• Ex. What happens when you reboot the computer?
• Open-ended, short essay questions asking you to
  apply something you learned in class to a new
  problem.

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Making the GradeStudying for Exams

• Understand previous projects well. Understand the
  code you used.
• Memorization is okay. There's a lot to remember.
• This is especially useful for remember a
  process-style questions.
• Understanding is better. Ask yourself why
  something works the way it does and not some
  other way.

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Any questions?