Welcome to Software Systems at Olin College, Spring 2020. Instructor: Allen Downey. Meetings: Tuesday and Friday, 1:30 to 3:10 in AC326. Topics: Operating Systems, and System-level Programming in C, including threads, scheduling, synchronization, virtual memory, processes, and file systems. Project topics may include graphics, networks, embedded systems, and high-performance computing. Students in this class should:
Downey, Think OS, and some material from Downey, The Little Book of Semaphores. Office hoursI generally don't keep scheduled office hours, but I am happy to meet by appointment. And if there is demand, I will schedule hours later in the semester. PoliciesWork in this course includes
HomeworksHomeworks are primarily programming exercises from ExercisesInC. They are primarily intended to help you learn, so they are evaluated on a coarse scale. QuizzesWe will have about 8 in-class quizzes covering material from the readings and in-class exercises. These are intended to evaluate whether you are keeping up with the class and understanding the content. Make-up quizzesI understand that students occasionally have to miss a class. For that reason, the first missed quiz is excused (that is, the missed quiz is dropped). If you have to miss a second quiz, please contact me as early as possible so we can schedule a makeup quiz. If you don't contact me before the quiz, I cannot offer a makeup quiz. If you miss a third quiz, I cannot offer a makeup quiz. In those cases, I use a default grade of 4 out of 10, to limit the impact of missed quizzes. If a student does not miss any quizzes, they get an "attendance bonus": their lowest quiz score is dropped. Projects You will work on two projects intended to help you develop depth in 1-2 of the course topics. Grading Your final grade will depend on a weighted sum of your scores for homework, quizzes, projects, and professionalism. Participation and professionalismAs students, you share responsibility for creating and maintaining a classroom atmosphere that is conducive to everyone's learning and enjoyment. I hope you will think about how your participation contributes to the learning environment. Some things you can do to help:
|