Dr Szabolcs Mikulas / Teaching / Computer Organization and System Software
Computer Organization and System Software 2018-2019

Assessment

By written examination 90% and coursework 10%.
Click here for old COSS exam papers from 2016, 2017, 2018 (shorter paper because of strike action), and old Computer Systems (MSc) exam papers from 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 (in pdf format).

Here is a Mock exam with solution.

Textbook

W. Stallings, Operating Systems, Internals and Design Principles,
Latest edition is 9th edition (2016). (Earlier editions could do as well, but section numbering may be different.)
See the website of the book for additional resources.


Recommended Reading

  • J.A. Harris, Operating Systems, Schaum’s Outline Series, McGraw-Hill, 2002
  • N. Carter, Computer Architecture, Schaum’s Outline Series, McGraw-Hill, 2002
  • W. Stallings, Computer Organization and Architecture: Designing for Performance, Prentice Hall.
    Latest edition is 10th edition (2016). (Earlier editions could do as well, but section numbering may be different.)
  • A.S. Tanenbaum, Modern Operating Systems, Prentice Hall, 2nd (or later) edition, 2001.

Coursework

Submit your coursework in .pdf or .doc format via the Moodle page of the module (do not forget to press the submit button). If this fails for some reason, then email it to the TA at manni@dcs.bbk.ac.uk.

  • Part 1: Part 1. The deadline is 23:55, 24 February 2019.
  • Part 2: Part 2. The deadline is 23:55, 7 April 2019.
  • Reassessment: To be announced.

The cut-off date for all submissions is ten working days after the initial deadline. Submissions after the deadline but before the cut-off date will be capped at 40% of marks (unless there are accepted mitigating circumstances). Submissions after the cut-off date will get 0 (zero) mark.
By submitting the coursework

  • you implicitly acknowledge that you have read and understood the sections on plagiarism in College Policy on Assessment Offences,
  • you confirm that the work is your own and
  • you give permission for your work to be submitted to the plagiarism-testing database used by the College.

Course Outline

Introduction: Computer Architecture (CA) and Operating System (OS) overview
Processors
Processes and threads
Concurrency
Memory management
Input/Output and file systems


Lectures and Slides* (subject to regular update)


* The slides were prepared by using Patricia Roy's slides for Stallings (2006), Adrian J Pullin's slides for Computer Organization and Architecture, and the slides accompanying Modern Operating Systems.