Syllabus

Introduction

The goal of the course is to convey the fundamental concepts that enable programs to execute on real hardware. Those concepts include how the operating system virtualizes the hardware to provide basic services and abstractions to enable a user program to effectively use the available hardware resources. The course also addresses how different programming constructs and idioms work.

The basic abstraction of a program running as one or more threads of control in a single flat address space (a Unix process) is the key to the course. Emphasizing that abstraction as the underlying model for understanding how a program works, from both the user program and hardware perspective (with the OS in between), run as a theme through all topics in the course. Examples include C pointers (to data and functions), function calls and runtime stack management, dynamic memory management in the heap, and the fork/exec system calls.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite → C- or better in CMSC132 and MATH 141
Corequisite → CMSC 250 (or equivalent)
Credits → 4

Course Coordinators

For office hours and other contact information, visit the staff link.

Textbooks

Course Topics (Subject to Change)

• Unix Memory Model
• Moving from Java to C
• Pointers and dynamic data structures in C
• I/O, standard libraries
• Testing
• Assembly Language
• Process control
• Systems programming
• Program measurement and optimization
• Multithreaded programming with pthreads
• Libraries and linking
• Dynamic memory management

Honors

Additional information for students in the honor's (cmsc216H) section can be found at Honors.

Grading

Final grades will be computed according the following weights:

Once we have graded any class material (e.g., exams, projects, etc.) we will post an announcement and a deadline by which you must submit any regrade request (if necessary). It is your responsibility to submit regrade requests by the specified deadline; no regrade requests will be processed afterwards.

Projects

• Deadlines - All projects are due at 8 pm on the specified day in the project description. You have until 8 pm of the next day to submit your project with a 12% penalty. Notice that after the late period, you will not receive any points for your project, even though you still need to satisfy the good faith attempt (see information below). For example, if a project is due on Wednesday at 8 pm, you have until Thursday at 8 pm to submit a late project with a 12% penalty. Any submission after Thursday 8 pm will receive 0 pts.
• Submit Server - You need to use the submit server for project submissions. We will not accept projects submitted otherwise (e.g., e-mail, etc.). Notice that we use the submit server results to compute a significant portion of your project's grade. You need to make sure that your project works in the submit server, otherwise you will not get any credit.
• Which Project Gets Graded - Your grade for an project will be based on the submission with the highest score after the late penalty (if any) has been applied.
• Good Faith Attempt - You must satisfy a minimum set of requirements for each project (Good Faith Attempt) otherwise you will not pass the course (automatic grade of F). Each project defines its own good faith attempt criteria and a deadline to provide an implementation that satisfies it. If you start a project on time, and look for assistance (if required) you should have no problems satisfying the Good Faith Attempt. The Good Faith Attempt guarantees you have the skills necessary for upper-level courses. Notice that you will not receive extra points for completing the good faith attempt. The grade you obtain for a project will be based on your ontime/late submission.
• Closed Projects - All programming assignments in this course are to be written individually (unless explicitly indicated otherwise). Cooperation between students is a violation of the Code of Academic Integrity.

Regarding Online Posting of Project Implementations

• Do not post your assignments' implementation online (e.g., GitHub, PasteBin) where they can be seen by others. Making your code accessible to others can lead to academic integrity violations.
• Posting of your projects in a private repository where only selected people (e.g., potential employers) can see them is OK. Just make sure is not a public site.
• Even if the course is over, do not make your code publicly available to others.
• Notice we constantly monitor online sources.

Class Attendance

Keep in mind that in-lecture graded exercises (sometimes without advance notice) are an integral part of the work of the course.

TA Room/Office Hours

Office hours get extremely busy the day before a project deadline. Therefore do not wait to start your projects. Regarding office hours and the TA Room:

• Once you have been helped by a TA please leave the TA room. We have a large number of students in all of our classes and the TA room is really crowded.
• If there is a line of students waiting, a TA should spent at most 5 minutes with a student. Please remind TAs about this rule.

Backups

You need to keep backups of your projects as you develop them. No extensions will be granted because you accidentally erased your project. Feel free to use the submit server as a backup tool by submitting often. You can also use tools like git, etc. Do not post code in any online system that is accessible to others (e.g., GitHub).

Academic Integrity

Note that academic dishonesty includes not only cheating, fabrication, and plagiarism, but also includes helping other students commit acts of academic dishonesty by allowing them to obtain copies of your work. In short, all submitted work must be your own. Cases of academic dishonesty will be pursued to the fullest extent possible as stipulated by the Office of Student Conduct.

It is very important for you to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism. For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or the Student Honor Council, please visit http://www.shc.umd.edu.

Computer Science Department Academic Integrity Information

The CS Department takes academic integrity seriously. Information on how the CS Department views and handle academic integrity matters can be found at Academic Integrity.

Examples of Academic Integrity Violations

The following are examples of academic integrity violations:

• Hardcoding of results in a project assignment. Hardcoding refers to attempting to make a program appear as if it works correctly (e.g., printing expected results for a test).
• Using any code available on the internet/web or any other source. For example, using code from Sourceforge.
• Hiring any online service to complete an assignment for you.
• Sharing your code or your student tests with any student.
• Using online forums (other than Piazza) in order to ask for help regarding our assignments.

Additional information can be found in the sections titled "Academic Integrity" and "Code of Student Conduct" available at Course Related Policies.

Piazza

We will be using (Piazza) for class communication. You will not be able to register to Piazza yourself. Your instructor will register you using the e-mail you have in the school system.

Excused Absence and Academic Accommodations

See the section titled "Attendance, Absences, or Missed Assignments" available at Course Related Policies.

Disability Support Accommodations

See the section titled "Accessibility" available at Course Related Policies.

Miscellaneous

• Please bring your laptop to your discussion (lab) session and to lecture. If you don't have a laptop, we will pair you up with a classmate.
• As you work on a project submit your project often even if you have not finished. We monitor submit server submissions and can provide assistance based on submit server results.
• At the end of the course visit (www.courseevalum.umd.edu) to complete your course evaluations.
• If you are experiencing difficulties in keeping up with the academic demands of this course, you may contact the Learning Assistance Service located at 2202 Shoemaker Building.
• UMD Course related policies can be found at http://www.ugst.umd.edu/courserelatedpolicies.html

Copyright

All course materials are copyright UMCP, Department of Computer Science © 2017. All rights reserved. Students are permitted to use course materials for their own personal use only. Course materials may not be distributed publicly or provided to others (excepting other students in the course), in any way or format.

Schedule

Course Schedule

This schedule is tentative and subject to change. Keep in mind that the slides may not include all the material discussed in lecture. You are responsible for any material we present in lecture, even if it does not appear in the posted slides. Notice that code examples can be found in the grace cluster (public directory).

Staff

CMSC216 Coordinators

Office Hours Information

Please see Office Hours Guidelines

Teaching Assistants

All TA office hours take place in AVW 1112.

Name	E-mail	Pic
Swati Singhal (Grader)	swati [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Snehesh Shrestha (Grader)	snehesh [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Peratham Wiriyathammabhum (Grader)	peratham [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Mahmoud Sayed (Grader)	mfayoub [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Mohammed Salem (Grader)	mefathy [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Kyungjun Lee (Grader)	kjlee [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Gabriella Farley	gfarley [AT] terpmail.umd [DOT] edu
Stefani Moore	stemoore [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Ian Longo	ilongo [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Adam Hamlin	ahamlin2 [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Xi Chen	xchen141 [AT] terpmail.umd [DOT] edu
Justin Park	park1996 [AT] terpmail.umd [DOT] edu
Khanh Nguyen	kqn28 [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Lee Williams	drummerx04 [AT] gmail [DOT] com
Shravan Sanjiv	ssanjiv [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Victor Chang	vchang50 [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Allen Cheng	allen12 [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Stefan Su	stefansu [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Simon Schlegel	smschleg [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Raghav Bhasin	bhasin97 [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Christopher Giessner	cgiessne [AT] terpmail.umd [DOT] edu
Mehdi Moaddeb	moaddebmehdi [AT] hotmail [DOT] edu
Jihoon Ok*	jihoonok [AT] terpmail.umd [DOT] edu
Christopher Nakamura*	cnaka [AT] terpmail.umd [DOT] edu
Andrew(Mingbo) Gu*	mgu123 [AT]terpmail.umd [DOT] edu

* This class is supported by the new Academic Peer Mentoring Program (AMP). Tutors are former cmsc216 students that will help you with the course. Keep in mind they will not be able to address grading concerns. Tutors will hold tutoring hours in the TA room. Additional information about this program can be found at http://tltc.umd.edu/amp.

Office Hours

CMSC216 Coordinators

Office Hours Information

Please see Office Hours Guidelines

Teaching Assistants

All TA office hours take place in AVW 1112.

Name	E-mail	Pic
Swati Singhal (Grader)	swati [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Snehesh Shrestha (Grader)	snehesh [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Peratham Wiriyathammabhum (Grader)	peratham [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Mahmoud Sayed (Grader)	mfayoub [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Mohammed Salem (Grader)	mefathy [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Kyungjun Lee (Grader)	kjlee [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Gabriella Farley	gfarley [AT] terpmail.umd [DOT] edu
Stefani Moore	stemoore [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Ian Longo	ilongo [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Adam Hamlin	ahamlin2 [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Xi Chen	xchen141 [AT] terpmail.umd [DOT] edu
Justin Park	park1996 [AT] terpmail.umd [DOT] edu
Khanh Nguyen	kqn28 [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Lee Williams	drummerx04 [AT] gmail [DOT] com
Shravan Sanjiv	ssanjiv [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Victor Chang	vchang50 [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Allen Cheng	allen12 [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Stefan Su	stefansu [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Simon Schlegel	smschleg [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Raghav Bhasin	bhasin97 [AT] cs.umd [DOT] edu
Christopher Giessner	cgiessne [AT] terpmail.umd [DOT] edu
Mehdi Moaddeb	moaddebmehdi [AT] hotmail [DOT] edu
Jihoon Ok*	jihoonok [AT] terpmail.umd [DOT] edu
Christopher Nakamura*	cnaka [AT] terpmail.umd [DOT] edu
Andrew(Mingbo) Gu*	mgu123 [AT]terpmail.umd [DOT] edu

* This class is supported by the new Academic Peer Mentoring Program (AMP). Tutors are former cmsc216 students that will help you with the course. Keep in mind they will not be able to address grading concerns. Tutors will hold tutoring hours in the TA room. Additional information about this program can be found at http://tltc.umd.edu/amp.

Lectures

Course Schedule

This schedule is tentative and subject to change. Keep in mind that the slides may not include all the material discussed in lecture. You are responsible for any material we present in lecture, even if it does not appear in the posted slides. Notice that code examples can be found in the grace cluster (public directory).

Good Faith Attempt

Good Faith Attempt Deadlines

You must satisfy a minimum set of requirements for each project (Good Faith Attempt) otherwise you will not pass the course (automatic grade of F). Each project defines its own good faith attempt criteria. Notice that you will not receive extra points for completing the good faith attempt. The grade you obtain in the project will be based on your ontime/late submission.

Grading Concerns

Regrades Deadlines

After any class material is graded, you have a period to address any grading concerns. Unfortunately we will not be able to address any grading concerns after the specified deadline.

Honors Section

Honors Section Resources

• Syllabus Addendum (Honors)

Projects

Projects

The planned dates when projects will be handed out and due is given in the course schedule. Beware that the exact dates are subject to change, but we will try to give you fair notice of any changes.

Frequent Problems Seen During Submission

Information can be found at Frequent Submission Problems

Project Descriptions

Project descriptions can be found in the grace cluster (along with the project files). You can download the project description to your computer using the link:

https://dav.terpconnect.umd.edu/

https://dav.terpconnect.umd.edu/

• Instructions for Setting gcc Alias
• Debugging/Code Development in C
• Verifying Results Using diff
• C Style Guide
• Basic Unix Tutorial and SSH Clients Info
• X Forwarding
• Resetting Grace Environment
• Public/Release/Secret Tests Information
• https://dav.terpconnect.umd.edu/ (for downloading material from grace)
• Unix tutorial
• C for Java Programmers
• C Tutorial
• Absolute Beginner's Guide to Emacs
• Emacs tutorial (Section 5 of unix-tutorial.pdf)
• Emacs Cheat Sheet(1)
• Emacs Cheat Sheet(2)
• Emacs Indentation and C
• (VIM) https://vim-adventures.com/
• (VIM) http://www.vimgenius.com/start
• If you are connecting to the Linux Grace systems using a Windows computer, you may find it very useful to download and install Xming, a Windows X server. An X server lets you open windows from the Grace systems onto your machine.
• GDB Under Emacs Tutorial
• GNU Make manual
• GDB quick reference sheet, and manual
Using GDB under GNU Emacs
• POSIX Threads
• Decoding C declarations/
• ASCII Table
• Linux Man Pages
• Using Valgrind to Find Memory Leaks and Invalid Memory Use
• IT Service Center
• Grace (CM)
• Glue Research and Academic Computing Environment (http://www.grace.umd.edu)
• Apps to Connect to the Grace System: JuiceSHH (Android) Free, ConnectBot (Android) Free, iTerminal - SSH Tool (iPad/iPhone) Free , iSSH - SSH / VNC Console (iPad/iPhone) Not Free
• Installing a Virtual Machine
• Assembly
  • Assembly Memory Diagram
  • Assembly Coding Example
  • Y86 Stack Frames
  • Y86 Visualizer (By Jonathan Gluck)
    
  • Y86 Visualizer (By William Kunkel)
  • Intel x86 Function-call Conventions - Assembly View
• git tutorial
• Process Diagram
• Forking and Threads
• Linux Distributions List
• Universal USB Installer
• The Descent to C (For those learning C)
• Safari Books Online
• Bugs in C/C++ Code
• Memory Layout of C Program
• Little and Big Endian Architecture
• Arrays in C
• If you exceed the number of processes ("No more processes" message in grace) while using fork() the command kill -9 -1 will kill all your process. You can then log on again.
• A Beginner's Guide to Programming Languages
• Printing color strings using only printf
• Apple Bug
• CGI and C
• Swapping Values Without Temporary Variable
• Virtual Memory
• Lab Sections
• Exam Clock (http://www.timer-tab.com/)

Piazza

Piazza

We will be using (Piazza) for class communication. Regarding Piazza:

• We will use Piazza to communicate in lecture and to provide class announcements.
• Posting of code is not allowed is Piazza. Anyone posting any kind of code may receive an XF in the course.. Please carefully read the Piazza Guidelines.
• In Piazza you can see the class announcements by selecting "Resources", "Course Information".
• When we post an announcement we will select the Piazza option that allows you to receive an immediate e-mail. The e-mail will have a subject line that starts with "[Instr Note]." If you are filtering piazza messages make sure that those messages are not placed in the junk folder.
• You are responsible for checking class announcements.
• The prefered mechanism to address course questions (projects, lecture material, etc.) is during office hours, in lab, and lecture.
• Students' questions can only be answered by CS staff (TAs and instructors). Although we will try to check Piazza often, there is no guarantee we will respond to messages immediately.
• You will not be able to register to Piazza yourself. Your instructor will register you using the e-mail you have in the school system.. If you would like to use a different e-mail address see your teaching TA in lab.
• If you access the link provided for Piazza on the class web page and it asks for an access code, try the following:
  • Visit http://www.piazza.com
  • Click "log in" on the top right
  • Click "forgot password"
  • Enter the e-mail address registered to piazza (e-mail address registered with the school).
  • Access your e-mail account to receive a link that will bring you to the registration site.

Lecture Videos

Lecture Videos

Note: In Panopto you can reduce the time you spend watching a video with some of the speed options.

• Nelson's Lectures
• Dynamic Memory Allocation in the C Standard Library (by Dr. Neil Spring)
• Sizes in C (by Dr. Neil Spring)
• Writing Code to Use qsort() (by Dr. Neil Spring)
• Assembly I
• Assembly Ib
• Assembly Ic
• Assembly II
• Assembly IIIA
• Assembly IIIB
• Assembly IIIC
• Assembly IIID
• Assembly IVA
• Assembly IVB
• Assembly IVC
• Process Control I
• Process Control II
• System Level I/O I
• Process Control IV
• System-Level IO IIA
• System-Level IO IIB
• System-Level IO IIC