CPTS 360
Systems Programming, Fall 2024
Overview
This course aims to equip students with the skills to craft system software, utilize system capabilities, and construct small-to-medium scale software systems. Throughout this course, students will (a) develop and execute C programs, (b) comprehend the fundamental methods of creating applications through libraries and interfacing with services, (c) understand memory layout, program, and process representations, and (d) implement Unix/Linux abstractions for memory management, processes, process control, inter-process communication, scheduling, file systems, and networks.
Instructor: Monowar Hasan
Email: monowar.hasan@wsu.edu
Class time: Tuesday, Thursday 9:10-10:25 AM
Class Location: Pullman Campus, Carpenter Hall 102
Office Hours (EME B53): Tuesday Noon-1 PM, Thursday 11 AM-noon, or by appointment
Course Staff (TA): Bruno Sanchez Parra (bruno.sanchezparra@wsu.edu) Matthew Bruggeman (matthew.bruggeman@wsu.edu) Tamim Ahmed (tamim.ahmed@wsu.edu) YuQun Song (yuqun.song@wsu.edu)
TA Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 10:30-11:30 AM,
Dana 343Owens Library 543(Bruno) Monday and Wednesday, 11:15 AM-1:00 PM,Sloan 340(Matthew) Friday 11 AM-Noon,Sloan 341(Tamim) Friday 1 PM-2 PM,Sloan 340(YuQun)
Note: The location of TA office rooms has changed due to renovations in Sloan. Check Canvas for the most updated room numbers.
Important: To better prepare yourself for office hours and posting Teams interactions, read carefully the excellent guides from Gabriel Parmer:
Acknowledgment
This course uses materials from Randal E. Bryant, David R. O'Hallaron, Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau, Andrea Arpaci-Dusseau, Kung-Chi Wang, Bob Lewis, Youjip Won, Tianyin Xu, Mathias Payer, Sanidhya Kashyap, Peter Reiher, and Hugh Lauer.
Course Syllabus
The course syllabus is available here.
Textbook
[CSAPP] Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective, 3rd edition, by Randal E. Bryant and David R. O'Hallaron.
[LKMPG] The Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide, Peter Jay Salzman, Michael Burian, Ori Pomerantz, Bob Mottram, Jim Huang. This book is helpful for Lab 3.
Schedule and Class Materials
Note: The lectures and code files are hosted on the WSU OneDrive cloud. You need WSU credentials to access the materials.
08/20 (Tue)
Course logistics & overview
Self-study:
See Git Tutorials Check Linux VM installation:
Apple Silicon Mac (from scratch, prebuild-images)
08/22 (Thu)
C recap
Lecture Reference:
CSAPP 6.2
Self-study:
CSAPP 6.1.1 (Page 581-582), 6.1.4
08/27 (Tue)
Computer memory
Lecture Reference:
CSAPP 6.2, 6.3, 6.4.1-6.4.2 (before Conflict Misses)
08/29 (Thu)
Computer memory (contd.)
Lecture Reference:
CSAPP 6.4.2 (before Conflict Misses)
Self-study:
CSAPP 6.4.2 (Conflict Misses)
09/03 (Tue)
Computer memory (contd.)
Lecture Reference:
CSAPP 6.4.3
Lecture shortened due to IT issues in the classroom. PA 0 released
09/05 (Thu)
Computer memory (contd.)
Lecture Reference:
CSAPP 6.4.5-end, 6.5, 6.6.2, 6.6.3
Self-study:
6.4.4
09/12 (Thu)
Cache practice problem solution Linking
Lecture Reference:
CSAPP 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.5
Self-study: 7.4 PA 0 due
09/17 (Tue)
No Class
MH is traveling for a conference PA 1 released
09/19 (Thu)
No Class
MH is traveling for a conference
09/24 (Tue)
Linking (contd)
Lecture Reference:
CSAPP 7.6, 7.10, 7.11
Optional Reading:
CSAPP 7.7 Self-study:
CSAPP 7.4 (ELF file format), 7.14, 7.15 Run code examples
09/26 (Thu)
Library Interpositioning Scheduling
Lecture Reference:
CSAPP 7.13.1-7.13.3
Self-study: Run code examples Informal early feedback (link) PA 1 due
10/03 (Thu)
Mid-term Exam
Exam duration: 60 minutes
10/15 (Tue)
Kernel programming
Lecture Reference: [OSTEP] 9.7 [LKMPG] 1-4 Self-study:
10/17 (Thu)
Kernel programming (contd.)
Lecture Reference: [LKMPG] 7.1-7.3 Self-study:
10/22 (Tue)
Kernel programming (contd.) Virtual memory (intro)
Lecture Reference: [LKMPG] 12.2, 14.2 Self-study:
Run example kernel modules PA 2 due PA 3 released
10/24 (Thu)
Virtual memory
Lecture Reference:
CSAPP 9.1-9.5, 9.6.1-9.6.4
Self-study:
CSAPP Read 9.4 bullets, 9.7.2
10/31 (Thu)
Process control
Lecture Reference:
CSAPP 8.3, 8.4 (up to 8.4.4)
Self-study:
CSAPP 8.2.3-8.2.5, Program-vs-Process (8.4.6) Run code examples
11/05 (Tue)
Signal I/O
Lecture Reference:
CSAPP 8.5.1-8.5.3 — Signals
CSAPP 10.1-10.8 — I/O
Self-study:
CSAPP Fig. 8.33 (signal-safe functions), 8.5.5 (Fig. 8.6—Correct signal handling)
Review RIO library
11/07 (Thu)
I/O Network programming
Lecture Reference:
CSAPP 10.9-10.12 — I/O CSAPP 11.1-11.3
PA 3 due
11/12 (Tue)
Network programming
Lecture Reference: CSAPP 11.4 (before 11.4.1), 11.4.9, 11.5
Self-study:
Run echo server/client example PA 4 released
11/14 (Thu)
Network programming Concurrent programming
11/19 (Tue)
Concurrent programming
11/21 (Thu)
Concurrency issues and bug Recap & closing
Lecture Reference:
[OSTEP] 31.1, 31.2, 31.3, 31.6, 32. 2 (Only Atomicity-Violation Bugs), 32.3 (only Circular Wait & DL Avoidance via Scheduling)
Self-study:
[OSTEP] Fig. 30.14, 31.7
Run code examples PA 4 due
11/26 (Tue)
No Class
Thanksgiving break
11/28 (Thu)
No Class
Thanksgiving break
12/03 (Tue)
No Class (PA 4 demo sessions throughout the week)
PA 4 demo will be scheduled in Week 16
12/05 (Thu)
No Class (PA 4 demo sessions throughout the week)
Done with classes!
Finals Week
Final Exam: 12/12/24 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM @ Classroom
Exam syllabus: all lectures & labs
Sample Exams
Programming Assignments
We will have five programming assignments in this course. The assignments must be completed individually.
PA 0: C skill rehash: Design a Unix filesystem tree simulator using C Tree data structures
PA 1: Simulating a cache memory system
PA 2: Implement various CPU schedulers (first-come-first-serve, round-robin, shortest-job-first)
PA 3: Basic kernel-level programming on Linux
PA 4: Develop a web proxy that interacts with the browser and the Internet
We strongly recommend using a Linux machine (or VM) to complete the labs, as we will use a Linux environment to grade your submissions. Some labs (e.g., PA 3) will not work without a Linux environment. Check the following links for details about setting up virtual machines on your systems.
Apple Silicon Mac (from scratch, prebuild-images)
Note: for Windows systems, WSL is not recommended. You must install a standalone VM image.
Programming Assignment Submission
We will use GitHub Classroom to deliver programming assignments. This way, you can better manage your assignments using a widely-used version control system, Git.
For information on version control and how to use Git, see:
To learn more about GitHub workflow, see GitHub Quickstart.
Are you using GitHub on your machine for the first time?
If you are using GitHub for the first time on your development machine, you need to authenticate your account — one way to do this is by using GitHub CLI. Install GitHub CLI using the instructions given here. Then run the following command and follow the prompts to authenticate your system: gh auth login.
Submission Workflow
For each lab, you will find a GitHub Classroom link on Canvas. Once you click the link and log into your GitHub account, find your name in the student list and click it to accept the assignment. Please double-check your name and email address before accepting the assignment. If you accidentally choose another student's name, please contact the instructor.
A repo named
wsu-cpts360-term/paX-namewill be automatically created for you and hosted on GitHub with the starter code.You can then "clone" your repository onto your development machine. You will complete assignments on your development computer and then "push" your work to the GitHub-hosted remote repository for us to grade.
Final submission:
Copy the URL of your GitHub repository on the corresponding assignment section on Canvas.
If you have any questions about setting up GitHub, please contact the TA.
Useful Resources
GDB Tutorial 1, Tutorial 2
GitHub Classroom: Tutorial 1, Tutorial 2
Got stuck? Questions about anything? Feel free to contact the instructor on Teams (preferred) or via email: monowar.hasan@wsu.edu!
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