CS 351: Systems Programming

Calendar

May 20

• Slides: Syllabus & Overview

May 20 - May 22

• Topic: C
• Slides: C Primer; C Primer (abridged)
• Reading: K&R
• Reading: Pro Git chapters 1 and 2

May 22

• Topic: The Process
• Slides: The Process & ECF
• Reading: CS:APP 8.1-8.2

May 27

• Memorial Day Holiday

May 29

• Topic: The UNIX process management API
• Slides: Process Management 145
• Reading: CS:APP 8.3-8.4.2

June 3

• Topic: The UNIX process management API, part 2
• Slides: Process Management 2
• Reading: CS:APP 8.4.3-8.4.6

June 5

• Topic: Signals and Signal Handling
• Slides: Process Management 3
• Reading: CS:APP 8.5-8.6

June 10

• Topic: Memory Hierarchy and Caching
• Slides: Memory Hierarchy and Caching
• Reading: CS:APP 6.1-6.6

June 12

• Midterm Exam

June 12 - June 17

• Topic: Virtual Memory
• Slides: Virtual Memory
• Reading: CS:APP 9.1-9.7

June 17

• Topic: Dynamic Memory Allocation
• Slides: Dynamic Memory Allocation
• Reading: CS:APP 9.9.1-9.9.4

June 17 - June 19

• Topic: Implementing malloc
• Slides: Implementing malloc
• Reading: CS:APP 9.9.5-9.9.14

June 24

• Topic: Garbage collection
• Slides: Garbage collection

June 26

• Final Exam

Machine Problems

Please note:

• Start early! (but wait until the MP is assigned -- i.e., the assigned date is filled in)
• Read through the entire writeup before starting to code.
• Ensure that your code compiles with no errors nor warnings.
• Machine problems are individual assignments. Plagiarism will result in everyone involved getting a zero.

1. Preliminaries (5 points)
   • Pro Git: read chapters 1 and 2
   • Assigned: 5/29;
     Due: 6/7

1. Writing a Shell (80 points)

   • Assigned: 6/5;
     Due: 6/14

2. Cache Simulation & Optimization (53 points)

   • Assigned: 6/17;
     Due: 6/23

3. Implementing a Dynamic Memory Allocator (80 points)

   • Assigned: 6/24;
     Due: 6/30

Resources

Administrivia

• Instructor: Michael Saelee
  • E-mail: lee@iit.edu
  • Office: SB 226C
  • Office hours: Wed/Fri, 12:45-13:45
• Course syllabus
• Vimeo channel

Primary reference materials

• Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective
  • Table of Contents
• The C Programming Language / "K&R"
• The Linux Programming Interface
• Advanced Unix Programming (AUP)

C

• The C Standard Library
• The comp.lang.c FAQ
• "The C Book"
• Some handy educational materials having to do with C, pointers, and data structures @ the Stanford CS Education Library

Library / Syscall references

• Beej's Guide to UNIX IPC
• Linux man pages on the WWW
• GNU C Library (glibc) documentation; of particular interest:
  • Signal handling
  • Low-level Input/Output

Other references

• An survey of dynamic storage allocation techniques: Paul Wilson et. al., Dynamic Storage Allocation: A Survey and Critical Review, 1995.
• Doug Lea's malloc
• An interactive VM simulator and overview

Development Tools

• The Bash manual
• Learn one of these editors:
  • The GNU Emacs manual
  • The Vim manual
• The git version control tool:
  • Pro Git
  • Git Magic.
• GDB, the GNU debugger:
  • The GDB manual
  • A handy reference card
  • A guide to using gdb to debug child processes

Exams and Study Guides

• The IIT final exam schedule
• Sample exams:
  • Sample final, Spring 2015, Solutions
  • Midterm Spring 2012
  • Midterm Spring 2015
  • Midterm Fall 2017
  • Final, Fall 2012
  • Sample GC problem
• Practice VM translation exercises; solutions:
  • Problem #1: (a) 0xE7 (b) 0xCA
  • Problem #2: (a) 0xCB (b) 0x92
  • Problem #3: (a) 0xA0 (b) 0x00