CMSC216 Introduction to Computer Systems (Summer 2023) (2024)

Syllabus

Introduction

The goal of the course is to convey the fundamental conceptsthat enable programs to execute on real hardware. Thoseconcepts include how the operating system virtualizes thehardware to provide basic services and abstractions to enablea user program to effectively use the available hardwareresources. The course also addresses how different programmingconstructs and idioms work.

The basic abstraction of a program running as one or morethreads of control in a single flat address space (a Unixprocess) is the key to the course. Emphasizing that abstractionas the underlying model for understanding how a program works,from both the user program and hardware perspective (with the OSin between), run as a theme through all topics in the course.Examples include C pointers (to data and functions), functioncalls and runtime stack management, dynamic memory managementin the heap, and the fork/exec system calls.

Regarding CMSC216 Summer 2023

This class will be on campus, and exams and quizzes need to be taken on campus (they cannot be taken online (no exceptions)). The class format is similar to my other courses: we will record lectures and labs, no pop quizzes, no attendance required, old semester exams available, and Piazza as the class bulletin board.

This course is a 10-week course, which I strongly recommend you do NOT take along with any other summer course or along with an internship. By the way, if you have an internship offer, go for it instead of taking a summer class :).

The Schedule section of this web site has the class schedule.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite → C- or better in CMSC132and MATH 141
Credits → 4

Credits

Credits → 4

Coordinator

Nelson Padua-Perez, Office:IRB 2210

Textbook

You don't need the recommended textbooks to be successful in this course.We believe we provide all the information you need in lecture and lab.In addition, there is ton of information about C/systems programmingonline. We provide these references as some students prefer tohave a textbook.

Course Topics (Subject to Change)

• Unix Memory Model
• Moving from Java to C
• Pointers and dynamic data structures in C
• I/O
• Standard Libraries
• Testing
• Assembly Language
• Process control
• Systems programming
• Program measurement and optimization
• Multithreaded programming with pthreads
• Libraries and linking
• Dynamic memory management

Grading (Important: all exams and quizzes must be taken on campus, and NOT online). No exceptions

Grading Concerns

It is your responsibility to submit regrade requests by aspecified deadline; no regrade requests will be processed afterwards (evenif the are grading errors). If you don't address a grading concern by thespecified deadline, we will assume you have reviewed the graded work and aresatisfied with your current grade. Deadlines to address any grading concernswill be available at Grading Concerns.

Assignments

• Deadlines -All assignments are due at 11:55 pm and you have until11:55 pm of the next day to submit your work witha 12% penalty. You will not receive any credit for a submissionafter the late deadline. The submit server will use 11:56 pm as the deadline,otherwise assignments submitted exactly at 11:55 pm will be considered late.The actual deadline for assignments is 11:55 pm. One minute late is considereda late submission.
• Submit Server -You need to use thesubmit server to submityou work. We will not accept work submitted otherwise (e.g.,email, etc.). You need to make sure that your assignment solution worksin the submit server, otherwise you may lose most or all of the assignmentcredit.
• Which Assignments Gets Graded -For programming assignments the one with public/release/secret teststhat scores the highest in the submit server after a late penalty (if any)has been applied. We only use public/release/secret tests scores to select thesubmission to grade. Other assignment requirements (e.g., style, methods youmust implement, etc.) are not considered. We will evaluatethose requirements on the selected submission. We cannot select a particularsubmission to grade. We will grade the highest scoring submission as describedabove. Keep in mind you may get a total score lower than expected if the highestscoring submission is missing requirements a lower scoring submission satisfies.
• Closed Assignments -All programming assignments in this course are to be written individually (unless explicitlyindicated otherwise). You may discuss assignments only with TAs, instructor or via Piazza.
• No Pop Quizzes/Pop Lab Work -There are no pop quizzes nor pop lab exercises. We will announce in advance (at least one day) if there isany work you need to submit for a grade.
• Projects and exercises are posted by 6 pm (or earlier) on the day specified on theschedule.
• Using any AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT) to complete course assignments isnot allowed.

Good Faith Attempt Requirement

Every class project and the debugging quiz have a good faith attempt (GFA) requirement.The good faith attempt represents the minimum functionality you need to implementfor a project. For each project you don't satisfy the good faith attempt, yourclass letter grade will be reduced by two letters. For example, if you have an A+,and missed one GFA, your class letter grade will be C+. The goal of the GFA is toguarantee you have the basic skills needed for upper level courses. You haveuntil the last day of classes to satisfy any missing GFA.

Regarding Posting of Assignments' Solutions/Implementations

• Posting of any assignment solution (even after the course is over)in a publicly available online location (e.g., github, Chegg) is prohibited underthe Code of Academic Integrity (facilitation of academic dishonesty). Anystudent responsible for publicly posting assignments' solutions will be reportedto the Office of Student Conduct and risks the sanction of an "XF" in the course.
• Posting of your assignments in a private repository where only selectedpeople (e.g., potential employers) have access is OK.

TA Room/Office Hours

Office hours get extremely busy the day before an assignment deadline and getting helpis not guaranteed. Please start your assignments early so you can address any problemsduring office hours. We may have some online office hours, but there are no guarantees.

Backups

You are responsible for creating backups of your work using any approach(make sure your work is not accessible to others). You are required tosubmit your work to the submit server often, so you have a backup copy. No extensionswill be granted if you lose your work and you had no submit server backups.

You must submit your work and check your results in the submit server often.At least three days before a project is due, you should have some submissionthat passes some of the submit server tests.

Piazza

We will be using (Piazza) for classcommunication. You will not be able to register to Piazza yourself.Your instructor will register you using the email addressyou have in the school system.Posting of any kind of code in Piazza is not allowed.

Class Announcements

You are responsible for checking announcements (at least twice a day) wepost in the announcements Piazza folder. An oldannouncements Piazza folder will have old announcements.

Excused Absence and Academic Accommodations

See the section titled "Attendance and Missed Assignments"available at Course Related Policies.

Accessibility

See the section titled "Accessibility" available atCourseRelated Policies.

For Accessibility & Disability Students

If you are an ADS (https://counseling.umd.edu/ads) student (others ignore this information).

ADS students: you are responsible for reserving a space at ADS to takeexams (we cannot provide that support). Keep in mind ADS has deadlinesregarding by when to schedule a day/time to take exams. If your mainaccommodation is extra time in exams and quizzes, you don't need to meet your instructor (just bring any form that needs a signature to lecture).You must schedule quizzes/exams at ADS on the same date and about the sametime the exam takes place for the rest of the class.

Academic Integrity

Please read this information carefully. We take academic integritymatters seriously.

1. Academic dishonesty includes not only cheating, fabrication,and plagiarism, but also includes helping other students commit acts ofacademic dishonesty by allowing them to obtain copies of your work. Allsubmitted work must be your own. Cases of academic dishonestywill be pursued to the fullest extent possible as stipulated by theOffice of Student Conduct.
2. Situations that often lead to academic integrity violations:
   • A student's friend/roommate shares an assignment's code. Once you provideyour code to another student, you are a facilitator, even if you indicate to the student "not to copy-paste" any of it. Actually we had a case in which a student CS degree was revoked for this reason.
   • Students use online resources (github, Chegg, etc.) to find assignments' solutions.The solutions are found by several students and all will be involved in anacademic case.
   • Students assume we don't have tools that check for similarities among all students' submissions.
   • Students get desperate and don't want a 0 in the assignment.
   • Students are not aware of the expectations regarding academic integrity.
   • Students assume we don't take academic integrity matters seriously.
   • You should only receive assistance from instructors/TAs. We have seen casesin which the use of tutors have led to academic integrity violations (e.g., tutorslooked for assignment's solutions online).
   
   
3. The Office of Student Conduct is responsible for handling academic integrity matters. After a report is submitted by an instructor, the case is evaluated by the office and it could result in an XF grade, degree revocation, or dismissal from the university.
4. One of the most negative consequences of academic integrity violations is the emotional burden an academic integrity case has on a student. We have seen students extremely distraught as a result of an academic integrity violation. In many cases students chances for recommendations, TA positions, and other opportunities are negatively affected.
5. Please read the section titled "Academic Integrity" available atCourse Related Policiesand the information available at Academic Integrity

Class Concerns

If you or your parents have any class concerns, feel free to contactthe instructor. If an issue arises with the instructor, report it usingthe form available at https://www.cs.umd.edu/classconcern.

Miscellaneous

• We only use ELMS for videos.
• At the end of the semester visit (www.courseevalum.umd.edu) tocomplete your course evaluations.
• Contact your instructor, the Counseling Center, or both, ifyou are experiencing difficulties that affect your performance in your courses.
• UMD Course related policies are available athttp://www.ugst.umd.edu/courserelatedpolicies.html.
• We plan to record lectures and lab/discussion sessions, buttechnical problems may prevent us from creating a recording.You are still responsible for any material covered in lecture/lab.

Copyright

All course materials are copyright UMCP, Department of Computer Science© 2023. All rights reserved. Students are permitted to use coursematerials for their own personal use only. Course materials may not bedistributed publicly or provided to others (excepting other students inthe course), in any way or format.

Web Accessibility