CPTS 360

Systems Programming, Spring 2024

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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: [e-mail]

• Class time: Tuesday, Thursday 10:35-11:50 AM

• Class Location: Pullman Campus, Carpenter Hall 102

• Office Hours (EME B53): Monday, Wednesday 2:30-3:30 PM or by appointment

• Course Staff (TA): YuQun Song ([e-mail]) Trang Mai Hoang ([e-mail]) Bruno Sanchez Parra ([e-mail])

• TA Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00-2:00 PM, Sloan 333 (YuQun) Monday 3:30-4:30 PM, Sloan 333 (Trang) Tuesday 12:00-1:00 PM, Sloan 340 (Bruno) Thursday 2:00-3:00 PM, Sloan 333 (YuQun)

Important: To better prepare yourself for office hours and posting Teams interactions, read carefully the excellent guides from Gabriel Parmer:

• Preparing and presenting yourself at office hours

• Expected norms for online interactions

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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.

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Course Syllabus

The course syllabus is available here.

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Textbook

1. [CSAPP] Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective, 3rd edition, by Randal E. Bryant and David R. O'Hallaron.
2. [OSTEP] Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces by Remzi H. Arpaci-Dusseau and Andrea C. Arpaci-Dusseau.
3. [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.

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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.

WK	Date	Topic	Slides	Remarks
1	01/09 (Tue)	N/A		Change of instructor due to unforseen reasons
1	01/11 (Thu)	N/A		Change of instructor due to unforseen reasons
2	01/16 (Tue)	No Class		MH was preoccupied with a professional event
2	01/18 (Thu)	No Class		MH was preoccupied with a professional event
3	01/23 (Tue)	Intro and C recap	Lecture 01
3	01/25 (Thu)	Computer memory	Lecture 02	Lecture Reference: CSAPP 6.2, 6.3, 6.4.1-6.4.2 (before Conflict Misses) Self-study: CSAPP 6.1.1 (Page 581-582), 6.1.4
4	01/30 (Tue)	Computer memory (contd.)	Lecture 03	Lecture Reference: CSAPP 6.4.5-end, 6.5, 6.6.2, 6.6.3 Self-study: 6.4.2 (Conflict misses) Run mm.c and analyze the results
4	02/01 (Thu)	Linking	Lecture 04	Lecture Reference: CSAPP 7.1, 7.2
5	02/06 (Tue)	Linking (Contd.)	Lecture 05	Lecture Reference: CSAPP 7.5, 7.6, 7.10, 7.11, 7.13.1 Opional Reading: CSAPP 7.7 Self-study: CSAPP 7.4 (ELF file format) Run code examples Lab 1 released
5	02/08 (Thu)	Linking (wrap up) Process scheduling	Lecture 06	Lecture Reference: CSAPP 7.13.2-7.13.3, 8.2 Self-study: CSAPP 7.14, 7.15 Run code examples
6	02/13 (Tue)	Scheduling (contd.)	Lecture 07	Lecture Reference: [OSTEP] 7.1-7.10 Self-study: [OSTEP] 6.1-6.3 (excluding Fig. 6.4)
6	02/15 (Thu)	Scheduling (MLFQ)	Lecture 08	Lecture Reference: [OSTEP] 8 Lab 1 due
7	02/20 (Tue)	Mid-term review	Lecture 09	Informal early feedback (link)
7	02/22 (Thu)	Mid-term Exam		Exam duration: 60 minutes
8	02/27 (Tue)	Fair scheduling Kernel programming (intro)	Lecture 10	Lecture Reference: [OSTEP] 9.1-9.4, 9.6-end Lab 2 released
8	02/29 (Thu)	Kernel programming	Lecture 11	Lecture Reference: [LKMPG] 2-4, 6, 7.1, 7.2 Self-study: Run example kernel modules
9	03/05 (Tue)	Kernel programming	Lecture 12	Lecture Reference: [LKMPG] 7.2, 12.2, 14.2 Self-study: Run example kernel modules
9	03/07 (Thu)	Virtual memory	Lecture 13	Lecture Reference: CSAPP 9.1-9.5 Self-study: CSAPP Read 9.4 bullets Lab 2 due
10	03/12 (Tue)	No Class		Spring break Lab 3 released
10	03/14 (Thu)	No Class		Spring break
11	03/19 (Tue)	Virtual memory (contd.)	Lecture 14	Lecture Reference: CSAPP 9.6.1-9.6.4, 9.7.2, 9.11
11	03/21 (Thu)	Process control	Lecture 15	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
12	03/26 (Tue)	Signal I/O	Lecture 16	Lecture Reference: CSAPP 8.5.1-8.5.3 — Signals CSAPP 10.1-10.9 — I/O Self-study: CSAPP Fig. 8.33 (signal-safe functions), 8.5.5 (Fig. 8.6—Correct signal handling) Run code examples
12	03/28 (Thu)	I/O Network programming	Lecture 17	Lecture Reference: CSAPP 10.10-10.12 — I/O CSAPP 11.1-11.4 (before 11.4.1), 11.4.9 — NW Self-study: Run echo server/client example Lab 3 due
13	04/02 (Tue)	No Class		MH is unavailable due to a site visit Lab 4 released
13	04/04 (Thu)	Network programming (finished)	Lecture 18	Lecture Reference: CSAPP 11.5, 11.6 Self-study: Run Tiny web server
14	04/09 (Tue)	Concurrent programming	Lecture 19	Lecture Reference: [OSTEP] 26, 27 Self-study: Run code examples
14	04/11 (Thu)	Concurrency issues and bugs	Lecture 20	Lecture Reference: [OSTEP] 30.2, 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 Lab 4 due
15	04/16 (Tue)	Privileged programs	Lecture 21	Lecture Reference: Set-UID Privileged Programs Self-study: Run code examples Suggested reading: How To Write a Setuid Program
15	04/18 (Thu)	Exam review and closing	Lecture 22
16	04/23 (Tue)	No Class		Done with classes!
16	04/25 (Thu)	Lab 4 demo		Demonstration slot for selected students only. See Canvas for the complete schedule.
17	Finals Week	Final Exam: 04/30/24 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM @ Classroom		Exam syllabus: all lectures & labs

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Sample Exams

• Sample Mid
• Sample Final

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Exam Solutions

• Mid-term solution

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Programming Assignments

We will have four programming assignments in this course. The assignments must be completed individually.

• Lab 1: Design a Unix filesystem tree simulator using C Tree data structures

• Lab 2: Implement various CPU schedulers (first-come-first-serve, round-robin, shortest-job-first)

• Lab 3: Basic kernel-level programming on Linux

• Lab 4: Develop a web proxy that interacts with the browser and the Internet

You will need access to a Linux machine (or VM) to complete the labs. Check the following links for details about setting up virtual machines on your systems.

• Windows, Intel-based Mac, and Linux
• 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:

1. Eddie Kohler’s Git notes
2. Git handbook from GitHub

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

1. 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.

2. A repo named wsu-cpts360-term/paX-name will be automatically created for you and hosted on GitHub with the starter code.

3. 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.

4. Final submission:

   • Copy the URL of your GitHub repository on the corresponding assignment section on Canvas.

For any questions on setting up GitHub, please contact the TA.

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Useful Resources

• Unix and Linux Tutorial
• C declarations
• Essential C, By Nick Parlante
• GNU C Reference Guide
• Interactive C Tutorial with Exercises
• GDB Tutorial 1, Tutorial 2
• Git Book
• Linux Kernel Documentation
• GitHub Classroom: Tutorial 1, Tutorial 2

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Got stuck? Questions about anything? Feel free to contact the instructor on Teams (preferred) or via email: [e-mail]!