Assessment of CEG 233: Linux and Windows

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Assessment ofCEG 233 Linux and Windows

• Coordinator Prabhaker Mateti

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Catalog Description

• Introduction to Linux and Windows systems.  GUI
  and Windowing Systems.  Files and Directories.
  Ownership and Sharing. Programs and Processes. 
  System calls, Libraries.  Loading.  Dynamic
  linking. Command Line Shells.  Scripting
  languages.   Regular expressions. Clients and
  Servers.  Clients and servers.  Secure shell,
  sftp.  SSL/TSL.  HTTPS. System Administration. 
  4 credit hours. 3 hours lectures, 2 hours
  labs. Prerequisite   CS 240 or CS 220 or CS
  141 or CS 208.

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Course Objectives

• The student should
• Understand the command-line user interface of
  both Linux and Windows
• Understand what scripting is  
• Understand OS internal structure
• Develop a feel for a Windows-alternative OS

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Desired Outcomes

1. Is comfortable in using Linux and Windows at the
   command-line level
2. Can manage files on Linux and Windows ls, cd,
   mkdir, rm, ln, chmod
3. Can use powerful text editing tools emacs, vi,
   regular expressions
4. Can write bash and cmd scripts
5. Can use tools such as file, size, grep, sed,
   find ps, top, kill, cat, dd
6. Can use remote computers ssh, sftp

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Outcome Measures and Assessment

• Student progress in achieving the desired
  objectives and outcomes for this course will be
  monitored and measured through
• use of entrance and exit surveys,
• There is a self-assessment conducted at the
  beginning and
• another at the end of the term.
• programming assignments, homework, quizzes,
  examinations,
• success in the courses that use CEG 233 as a
  prerequisite.

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Course Content By Topics

1. Operating Systems, Systems implementation
   languages From booting to shut down.
2. Unix file system design. The structure of
   i-nodes. The mechanism of mount.
3. The semantics and mechanics of file open,
   read/write, close and unlink.
4. Shell Programming, File IO, redirection, Filters
   and pipes. Pointers to functions.
5. main(argc, argv, envp). Unix system calls, Signal
   handling. setjmp and longjmp.
6. Dynamic storage allocation and liberation.
7. Virtual memory. Address spaces. Swapping, Page
   replacement algorithms.
8. IO subsystem DMA Interrupt handlers driver
   interfaces overview of drivers.
9. Case Studies Linux or Windows.

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Course Content By Lectures

1. Overview of Course, Lectures, Labs Linux,
   Windows Other OS
2. Linux KDE, Gnome, and bash. Windows cmd, and GUI
3. OSVM FileM ProcM Net IO UserM (Boot)
   SysPrg
4. Virtual Memory Pages, faults, swaps
5. Programs Compiling, Linking, Libraries,
   Executable formats
6. Processes Loading, dynamic and static, states
   parent-child
7. System Calls System Programs Tracing sys and
   lib calls
8. Files Volumes. Open/Close, Dirs, and Links.
   Compression, Archives
9. Users Passwords, Privileges, Ownership, Privacy
10. File-name RegEx.

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Course Content By Lectures

• String Search/Replace RegEx.
• Editing. emacs, vi, sed, grep, find
• More on bash More on cmd
• Network layer IP addr. Ports. TCP, DNS, DHCP.
• IMAP, HTTP, NFS and Samba. Security and
  Firewalls
• More on bash More on cmd
• Windows Sys Admin. Std Processes. Patches.
  Registry.
• Linux Sys Admin. Distributions, updates
• Discussion OS? Kernels? Systems Programs?
  Applications? Contemporary Issues

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Class/Laboratory Schedule

• Each week has two lectures of 75-minutes each.
• Scheduled lab
• Unscheduled 2007 Fall
• 2 55-minutes 2007 Winter InterSession
• 1 110-minutes 2008 Winter
• 2 55-minutes 2008 Spring
• Students are expected to work in open labs for
  no less than 2 hours a week.
• There are 8 labs for the course, each worth 5.

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Grading

• Mid Term 25
• Final 35
• 8 Labs 40

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Prerequisites by Topic

1. Programming Concepts Variables, arrays, loops,
   if statements
2. Program development tools editors, compilers,
   linkers, debuggers  
3. Windows OS (power) user
4. Can read email.
5. Can surf the web.
6. All the Above Discussed Later

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Voted The Hardest Lab

• Develop sortMP3Files() that "sorts" and moves MP3
  files located in the SOURCE directory into the
  DEST directory.
• Create a subdirectory in DEST for each new album
  name seen among the SOURCE files. 
• Move an MP3 file with an album tag of AlbumX into
  DEST/AlbumX directory unless a file with that
  name already exists.
• Rename the MP3 files of album directories of DEST
  so that they are now of the form
  nn-Album-Artist.mp3.
• Do all the above in Windows cmd and Linux bash.

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Contribution to Professional Component

• CEG 233 contributes 4 hours to the Criterion 4(b)
• Also contains engineering design.

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Course Contribution to Program Educational
Objectives

• CEG 233 contributes to Objectives 1 and 2. 
• Through exposure to the use of an operating
  system other than Windows, it widens the skills. 
  
• The design experience gained through the course
  labs is realistic.  
• The student is also prepared to move on to other
  operating systems both past and future ones.

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Course Contribution to Program Outcomes and
Assessment
a b c d e f g h i j k
0 PX PX 0 PX 0 P PX PX PX PX
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ABET Criteria 3 Supporting Statements

• B Learning through practice and trial-and-error
  occurs in this course.
• C This is a lab/project driven course.
• E Because of an understanding of skilled use of
  an OS, better computer solutions can be
  formulated.
• G The problem formulation is in English, and the
  solution is in a formal language.
• H The development of user interfaces, and
  permissions to various computer resources is
  presented in the societal context.
• I The student realizes that in his/her life-time
  he will need to work with many OS, that there
  will not always be courses to take, that he
  should engage in life-long learning.
• J The student learns about contemporary issues
  such as the open source movement, document
  formats, software protection and how Linux was
  developed.
• K Modern program development tools are used in
  the project.  Internet based discussions help the
  student receive prompt answers from other
  students and the instructor.

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Conformance to ABET Syllabus

• The course conforms to the published ABET
  syllabus.
• Course Content
• The course has been taught by the coordinator for
  the last 4 terms.
• There are no issues of conformance that need to
  be addressed.
• Grading
• Minor (lt 6) variations in grading weights have
  occurred.
• Lab work, Midterm and Finals remained at 40, 25
  and 35 respectively.

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Course Related Observations

• Course content has been stable for the last 4
  terms.
• Students experience XP, KDE and Gnome GUI
  environments and cmd and bash CLI.
• Many students have their home PCs running
  installed/LiveCD Linux.
• Many students have better PCs at home than our
  lab PCs.
• Students become better Co-op Interns

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Course Evolution

• Scheduled lab
• Unscheduled 2007 Fall
• 2 55-minutes 2007 Winter InterSession
• 1 110-minutes 2008 Winter
• 2 55-minutes 2008 Spring
• Students are expected to work in open labs for
  no less than 2 hours a week.
• Two 55-min labs are way better than one 110-min
  lab.

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Course Improvement

• Students need significantly more help hours
  than we can provide with instructor and grader
  office hours.
• Two graders (limited to 10 hours/week) has 4
  hours/week of help hours and the rest for grading
  and scheduled labs. Not enough.
• No TA has been assigned for this required course.
• May need to introduce a pre-lab.

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Prerequisites by Topic Problems

• Programming Concepts Variables, arrays, loops,
  if statements
• Program development tools editors, compilers,
  linkers, debuggers  
• Windows OS (power) user
• Can read email.
• Can surf the web.
• Prereq (as of 2008 Spring) None
• Many students took CEG 233 as their first CS/CEG
  course.
• Makefile, etc. cannot be meaningfully discussed.

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Prerequisites by Topic Solutions

• Prereq ( soon to be official) CS 240 or CS
  220 or CS 141 or CS 208
• Bump the prereq up?
• CS 241 or

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Teaching Assignments

• Should the course be assigned to the same
  instructor again and again?
• My answers
• Alternate terms taught by different instructors.
• When the course is taught by multiple instructors
  significant conformance issues may arise.
• Common problem with several of our courses.

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Course Schedule Suggestions

• Should the course be taught every term?
• Yes.
• CEG233 has been taught four times so far
  (including Winter InterSession).
• 2007 Fall, 2 sections, 60 students
• 2007 WIS, 1 section, 25 students
• 2008 Winter, 1 section, 25 students
• 2008 Spring, 1 section, 40 students
• With GTA support, class size can be increased.

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CEG 233 Summary

• Required Course in BACS, BSCS, BSCE
• 4 credit hours
• Scheduled Work
• 75-minute lectures 2 per week
• Scheduled labs 2 hours per week
• Official Lab OSIS Lab (429 RC)
• 30 general purpose PCs.
• One file server/firewall.
• Configured to multi-boot into several OSs.
• Open 24x7
• Can the assigned project work be done elsewhere?
• Yes.
• Most Helpful Suggestion
• Assign helpers One undergraduate helper per 10
  students at 10 hrs/week stationed in the Lab.