Operating systems are a critical and complex piece of software that does the heavy lifting of managing computing devices for other software. It is also one of the few types of software that has been extensively engineered, studied, refined, debated, and even overhauled for decades. While one might consider operating systems as mature software, its evolution is far from complete.
This course exposes students to the operating systems as a research field and study operating systems, and more broadly computer systems in general, from a design point of view. We will examine different systems in both important historical contexts and recent research developments. In addition to teaching various system techniques, the objectives of the course also include helping students learn:
This course involves readings on classic and new papers. Topics include OS structure and extension techniques, virtualization, synchronization, communication, file systems, reliability, formal verification, data centers, and history and experience of systems.
Prerequisite: EECS 482 (Introduction to Operating Systems) or equivalent.
| Lecture | Tuesday/Thursday 3:00pm-4:30pm 1200 EECS |
This course does not have a required textbook. However, we recommend you to use an undergraduate operating systems textbook as a reference, e.g., Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces.
We also recommend you to read materials about the internals of mainstream OS. These resources will both help you understand technical details in many papers and serve as handy references in your project development and systems research in general. We particularly recommend the following books:
The major material of the course comes from seminal, noteworthy, or representative papers from the literature. Each class will have one or two required papers to read. You MUST read the required papers before the class, and be prepared to discuss them. In-class questions or quizzes will confirm you do the reading.
For some topics, we will list additional recommended papers. You are encouraged, but not required, to read those. Students often find it useful to form a reading group to discuss papers together before the class period, and we encourage the practice. The reading load will be heavy. So be sure to allocate enough time for it.
Note: this course assumes that you have taken the undergraduate operating systems course. Thus, it will not cover background knowledge such as how virtual memory works. Most papers we will read also make such an assumption. If you did not take an undergraduate OS course, it will be quite challenging to complete this course. If your undergraduate OS knowledge is rusty, review past lectures (example) to help better comprehend the papers.
Paper Review: You are required to submit a brief review for the required reading in each class. For Thursdays’ classes, the reviews only need to answer the listed paper questions. Reviews must be turned in by by 12 pm on the day of the class. Please refer to the detailed requirements on this page.
Participation: The structure of this course is unusual in that there are NO traditional lectures. Instead, we will discuss research papers that everyone is expected to read before class. Because of this format, class participation is vital to the success of the course. If you remain silent in the class, you will gain little out of this course.
In each class, I will ask direct questions about the paper and expect you to be able to answer. Note that your answers to these questions will be part of your overall grade.
Presentation: A subset of the papers will be presented by students in groups of 2–3 members. Each group will present at least once in the semester. The presentation should not simply summarize the paper. Detailed requirements for the presentation are described on this page.
Attendance: Three absences of classes are allowed for good reasons (e.g., conference presentation, interview). However, reviews of the papers must still be turned in.
Discussion: You are strongly encouraged to discuss the papers with other students in the class – you may have insights that others do not, and vice versa. Often students form reading groups, which I heartily encourage. Note that group discussion, however, is not an effective substitute for actually reading the paper.
Labs: There will be one or more assignments to give your hands-on kernel programming experience and prepare you for the course project. They are to be done individually.
Project: A major component of this course is a semester-long, research-oriented course project. You will work in a team of 2-3 students on the project. Detailed requirements for the project are described on this page.
Missing and Late Submission: You may miss up to three paper reviews without penalty. For each additional missed review beyond three, a 30% deduction will be applied. Therefore, missing a total of seven paper reviews results in a zero for the review grade.
Missing the submission of any other assignment (e.g., proposal) will result in a zero for that assignment. Late submissions of any assignment (including paper reviews, proposals, etc.) will incur the following penalties:
Academic Integrity: All students are required to know and adhere to the College of Engineering Honor Code and university policies. They apply to all course requirements, including the paper reviews, proposals, course project code and documentation. Violations of the policies will result in serious consequences. You may use tools such as ChatGPT to help you understand the concepts and paper contents. However, you may NOT use them to do the required work for you, such as generating reviews, answering assigned questions, or completing the programming assignments.
The course syllabus and materials are influenced by the advanced OS course at UCSD (CSE 221). We are particularly indebted to Geoff Voelker for sharing his lecture notes.