Learning Outcomes What you will know

This page collects together all of the “outcomes” associated with individual modules. Outcomes identify what students will know and be able to do if they master the material.

Computer Architecture

Understand the main components of the Von-Neumann model
Understand the Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle
Understand the need for and concepts behind the memory hierarchy
Understand the need for multi-core processors

Referencing modules: Computer Architecture ([Over|Re]view)

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Operating Systems Basics

Understand the role of Operating Systems
Be aware of Operating Systems design options, in the context of past and current such systems.
Knowledge of basic OS services and interfaces

Referencing modules: OS Overview and Interfaces

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Processes

Understand the process abstraction and how the OS implements it
Understand process creation in Linux and gain hands-on experience with process creation in Java
Understand popular Inter-Process-Communication (IPC) abstractions
Gain hands-on experience with the Pipe abstraction

Referencing modules: Processes

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Threads

Understand the thread abstraction and how the OS implements it
Gain hands-on experience with thread creation in Java

Referencing modules: Threads

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Synchronization

Understand the race condition problem
Understand the lock abstraction
Understand the deadlock problem and some of its possible solutions
Be exposed to the condition variable abstraction

Referencing modules: Synchronization

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Scheduling

Understand the need for scheduling at the OS level
Understand how scheduling impacts system performance and reactivity
Know standard scheduling algorithms/strategies and be able to apply them to job mixes

Referencing modules: Scheduling

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Main Memory

Be proficient with the needed discrete math skills to reason quantitatively about memory (addressing, counting)
Understand how physical addresses are virtualized
Understand the dynamic storage allocation problem and know standard bin packing algorithm for solving it

Referencing modules: Review: Counting and Addressing, Main Memory

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Virtual Memory

Understand the need for the Virtual Memory abstraction
Understand how Operating Systems implement Virtual Memory (paging, page tables, swapping)
Gain hands-on experience implementing a Virtual Memory simulation in Java

Referencing modules: Virtual Memory: Paging

I/O Devices, Storage and File Systems

Understand the concep of an I/O device from an OS perspective
Know the salient characteristics of storage media
Understand the role of file systems
Understand how main file systems components are implemented

Referencing modules: File System, I/O Devices