251-0053: System Programming

News

• 2006-04-11: The scores of the SP final exam have been copied to the AFS submission directories. You can find them in /afs/ethz.ch/users/l/lst/edu/ws05/53/<group>/exams/<login>. A histogram of the results is available here.
• 2006-02-09: There was an error in answer 4 of the "Test Your Knowledge" example solution. The solutions to other questions have been updated as well. Please get the updated answers or the fixed version of the whole example solution.
• 2006-02-06: The example solution for the "Test Your Knowledge"-lecture is available.
• 2006-01-24: The corrected CA and SP exams can be inspected between Jan 30 and Feb 10 in RZ H18 at the following times: Mon 13-17, Wed 9-10, Thu 13-16, Fri 13-15.
• 2006-01-17: The written exam for this class is probably scheduled for Mar 15, 2006. This is a non-binding pre-announcement only.
• 2006-01-17: The histogram of the midterm scores shown in class is available here
• 2005-12-20: The scores of the SP midterm have been copied to the AFS submission directories. You can find them in /afs/ethz.ch/users/l/lst/edu/ws05/53/<group>/exams/<login>
• 2005-12-12: The problem with the Bomb Lab server has been fixed. As some of you reported the stats didn't get updated any more since Saturday evening. Please run your bomb again to resubmit your solution if the entry for your bomb is not up to date.
• 2005-12-08: There have been some changes regarding the recitation groups. All affected students have been contacted.
• 2005-12-08: As discussed before, the midterm will be on Mon Dec 12, in class. The material of the lectures labelled "SP" in the schedule will be on the midterm, material from CA as it is necessary to understand SP may also be included. Material covered this week will not be on the midterm. The exam is closed book, closed notes, closed neighbor.

  The best way to prepare is to go over the material, e.g., by reading the textbook or solving some of the sample problem sets in the textbook. Also, a review of the C programming language may be helpful. You are not expected to learn low-level details (like instruction encodings) but you should be able to convert a number from signed to unsigned ...

• 2005-12-05: We have office hours for questions regarding the material for the SP midterm on Friday, Dec 9, 1-5 p.m. in IFW B45.2. Please don't hesitate to come by and clarify open questions.
• 2005-12-05: Last year's midterm exam is available here (only from within domain ethz.ch). Important note: the course follows another schedule this semester than last year; the material covered in the midterm may therefore be different.
• 2005-10-27: Welcome! We will discuss the organization and structure of the class.
• 2005-10-27: Please sign up for a recitation group using the Peer Review System. The registration for both courses (CA/SP) is open from 2pm today until 8am on Monday, October 31.

Course overview

This course provides a programmer's view of how computer systems execute programs, store information, and communicate. The course attempts to expose students to the practical issues that affect performance, portability, robustness, and extensibility. This course provides a foundation for subsequent courses on operating systems, networks, compilers and many other courses that require an understanding of the system-level issues.

Topics include

• Machine-level code and its generation by optimizing compilers,
• Input and output,
• Trap/event handlers,
• Performance evaluation and optimization,
• Program's view of networks and protocols,
• Techniques to control concurrent (multi-threaded) execution.

Course schedule

• This course is co-taught with the course on Computer Architecture. We will swap lectures as appropriate.
• This course meets in HG F1 every Monday 10:15-11:55 and in HG F7 every Thursday 11:10-11:55.

Please see the web page for 0051 (Computer Architecture) for more information.

Groups and assistants

All groups meet on Tuesday.

Assignments

Assignments are an important part of the course. You will not learn this material from listening to a lecture alone -- you have to do the assignments.

You must solve the assignments on your own! It is important that you realize that the solution to an assignment that you turn in must be your work. Copying another student's solution (or providing a solution for another student) is not acceptable and we must refer to the university's rules on cheating in exams. You are welcome (and encouraged) to discuss problems and assignments with other students but the work you turn in must be your own. If you have any questions about this policy, please contact the instructors.

Your grade will be based on the midterm and final (50%) and on the solutions to the assignments (50%).