OPERATING SYSTEMS - PART 1

The course illustrates the structure and the functions of modern operating systems.
It introduces the basic concepts related to modern operating systems, describes the theoretical models and techniques for process management, memory management, file system organization, I/O devices
and secondary memory structure.
The course discusses the principles of concurrent programming and the concepts and techniques related to process and thread synchronization.
The Unix/Linux/Android and Windows operating systems are analyzed as case studies.

Knowledge of basic concepts related to modern operating systems.
Knowledge of theoretical models and techniques for process management, memory management, file system organization, I/O and secondary memory.
Knowledge of the principles of concurrent programming.

Computer programming and computer architectures.

Functions and structure of an operating system.
Virtual machines. Processes and threads. Principles of concurrent programming.
CPU management. Scheduling algorithms.
Memory management. Virtual memory, paging and segmentation.
File system, functions and implementation.
I/O devices and secondary memory. RAID architectures.
Unix/Linux/Android and Windows operating systems.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Herbert Bos. I moderni sistemi operativi (5th edition), Pearson 2023.
William Stallings. Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles (9th edition), Pearson 2018.
Richard Stevens, Stephen A. Rago, Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment (terza edizione), Addison Wesley, 2013

Learning assessment is based on a written test.
The written test is divided into two parts corresponding to the two modules of the course.
The written exam of the first part of the course consists of open questions or multiple choice questions or exercises, and it can be substituted by two analogue intermediate tests.
An oral exam could be required for critical special cases.
Exercises are proposed to the students.
The exam assesses:
1. the knowledge of basic concepts, theoretical models and implementation techniques for modern operating systems;
2. managing methods of the main components of the operating system (processors, memory, I / O devices, file systems);
3. the competence of case studies of modern operating systems.
During the written test the use of books, notes, electronic media is not allowed.
It is not possible to take only one of the two parts of the written test, unless the intermediate written tests of Module 1.
For Module 2 the exam is a written test and some laboratory tests carried out during the semester (see module 2).

written and oral

As regards the gradation of the grade (how the grades will be assigned):
1. scores in the 18-22 range will be awarded in the case of answers to the written and oral test that indicate sufficient knowledge and understanding of the topics and methods addressed in the course; limited ability to develop autonomous solutions and application of the methods studied; limited ability in explaining the methods, solutions and topics of the course.
2. scores in the 23-26 range will be awarded in the case of answers to the written and oral test that indicate a fair knowledge and understanding of the topics and methods addressed in the course; discrete ability to develop autonomous solutions and application of the methods and topics studied; discrete ability in explaining methods and solutions and ability to create connections between topics studied.
3. scores in the 27-30 range will be awarded in the case of answers to the written and oral test that indicate good or excellent knowledge and understanding of the topics and methods addressed in the course; good or excellent ability to develop autonomous solutions and apply the methods and topics studied; good or excellent ability to explain methods and solutions and ability to create connections between topics studied.
4. praise will be awarded only in the presence of demonstration of excellent knowledge, ability to understand with reference to the program, excellent ability to connect topics and illustrate with excellent communication skills.

Lectures.
Exercises proposed and discussed in class.
Discussion of proposed exercises and comparison of solutions.
Special topics and case studies.
Exercises.

Information in this page is related to the whole Operating Systems course.