Start of classes for EECS 3221 Winter 2017.

Lecture notes for the next few classes will be posted in the CSE3221 course directory on red: /cs/course/3221

The topics for Assignment 1 will be made available in the file /cs/course/3221/3221_topics

The topic study slides and the topic study report are due on the last day to hand in term work, that is, Wednesday April 5, 2017, 23:59.

You are required to hand in hard copies, and electronic copies of all assignments. The required format for presentation slides and reports for all assignments is PDF. Please use the “submit” command to submit electronic copies of all assignments, including topic studies presentation slides and reports, programming assignment reports and source code, etc., to the course directory /cs/course/3221/submit. Use the command “man submit” to learn how to use the “submit” command.

The EECS 3221 midterm test will be held at the following time:

Time: Thursday February 16, 2017, 14:30-16:00

Location: TBA

The Midterm Test will cover the following:

a) Chapters 1-5 of the textbook “Operating System Concepts” 9th Edition.

b) All the slides in OS_ch1.pdf, OS_ch2.pdf, OS_ch3.pdf, OS_ch4.pdf, OS_ch5.pdf - as well as all the material covered in the lectures up to and including the Tuesday February 14, 2017 lecture. Please make sure that you have the most up-to-date version of the lecture notes.

It is possible that the Midterm Test may include true/false questions, questions that require short answers, questions that require calculations, questions that may require the drawing of diagrams, questions that require slightly longer answers, questions that may require the writing of short programs using pseudo C code similar to that used throughout the textbook, and other possible question formats.

- Please note that, in order to make sure that everyone in the class gets exactly the same information regarding the midterm and final exam, the instructor will not answer individual e-mail questions regarding what will be on and what will not be on the midterm and final exam, because that would not be fair to those students who do not receive such information. - If you have any questions related to the midterm or final exam, please ask such questions during the lectures.

Please note that course component marks, when available, can be accessed by logging in to red.cse.yorku.ca, then typing the following command:

courseInfo 3221 2016-17 W

Reading the first 4 chapters, that is, pages 1-129, of the book “Programming with POSIX Threads” by David R. Butenhof (This book is currently on reserve at Steacie Science Library, Call Number QA 76.76 T55 B88 1997), will not only be helpful for understanding the material on POSIX Threads in Chapter 4 of the textbook, but will also be important for doing the second assignment.

Regarding Assignment 1 (Topic Study):

Each group is required to have 4 students currently enrolled in the class. (Unfortunately, students who are on the waiting list cannot form a group with other students to reserve a topic.)

Topics are “First-Come-First-Served”. After organizing a group with the required number of students, each group may send by e-mail to the instructor the list of the student names in the group, and reserve one of the topics below. Please note that only a whole group of 4 students can reserve a topic.

Please also note that the deadline for forming a group of 4 students and reserving a topic is Monday January 23, 2017, 23:59.

Topics are to be presented in the same order of the time of reservation of the topics. If a group is the first group to select and reserve a topic, then that group will be the first group to present their reserved topic.

For each presentation date, the topic title and the names of the students in the group will be listed.

For all students that have not joined a group and selected a topic by the deadline of Monday January 23, 2017, 23:59, such students will be randomly assigned to groups, and each of such groups will be randomly assigned to one of the available topics, and the topic presentation dates will also be randomly assigned.

Please note that the same groups for Assignment 1 (Topic Study) will also be used for completing Assignment 2 and Assignment 3, which are programming assignments.

York CVR-VISTA Vision Science Summer School

The Centre for Vision Research (CVR) at York University offers a one-week, all-expenses-paid undergraduate summer school on vision science. This year's program will be held June 5-9, 2017.

This year's summer school will be substantially expanded, as part of the VISTA initiative that will dramatically increase the number of faculty members and students engaging in vision research at York University in the coming years.

The program includes talks by CVR faculty members on current research topics in vision science, as well as hands-on experience in CVR laboratories. The curriculum reflects the wide range of research areas at CVR, which includes research on human visual perception, computer vision, machine learning, visual neuroscience, 3D film, immersive environments, and visual disorders.

The program accepts undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing a career in scientific research. It is intended mainly for students who are planning to apply to graduate school in the fall of 2017, and who are interested in investigating vision science as a possible area of research. Citizens of all countries are eligible.

The program covers all transportation costs, and provides on-campus accommodations and meals.

Application instructions are available on the summer school website, www.yorku.ca/cvrss. The revised application deadline is March 1, 2017, and applicants will be notified of decisions by March 15, 2017.

For further information, see the summer school website, www.yorku.ca/cvrss, or write to Dr. Richard Murray (rfm@yorku.ca).

Poster available at www.yorku.ca/cvrss/poster2017.pdf.

EECS 3221 Assignment 2 has been posted in the course directory /cs/course/3221/3221assgn2_W17.pdf

The due date of EECS 3221 Assignment 2 is Tuesday February 28, 2:30 p.m.

Each group is required to hand in both a hard copy and an electronic copy of the assignment, including:

1. A written report that identifies and addresses all the important aspects and issues in the design and implementation of the programs for the problem described above.

2. The C source programs.

3. A “Test_output” file containing the output of any testing your group has done.

4. A “makefile” file to make it easier for the marker to compile and run your group’s program.

5. A “README” file explaining how to compile and run your group’s program.

Each group is required to use the utility “submit” to submit the electronic version of the above 5 files plus the “errors.h” file to the course directory /cs/course/3221/submit/a2

(The file “errors.h” should be included among the files submitted so that the marker can test whether your group’s programs can compile and run correctly or not.)

Evaluation of the Assignment

1. The report part of your assignment (50%) will be evaluated according to:

(a) Whether all important design and implementation aspects and issues of your programs related to the problem above have been identified and appropriately addressed.

(b) How well you have justified your design decisions.

© The quality of your design.

(d) How well you have designed and explained the testing.

(e) The clarity, and readability of the report.

2. The program and testing part of your assignment (50%) will be evaluated according to:

(a) The quality of the design and implementation of your programs.

(b) The quality of the testing of your programs.

(c ) Whether your programs satisfy the Additional Requirements in section C above.

Notes

Please note that the requirements specified in section A Description of the Assignment in /cs/course/3221/3221assgn2_W17.pdf, are the minimum requirements that must be satisfied by your program. Obviously, there are many other possible details of the alarm system that have been left unspecified. It is your responsibility to make appropriate design and implementation choices concerning the unspecified details of the alarm system, and justify those decisions in your report.

The EECS 3221 midterm test will be held at the following time:

Time: Thursday February 16, 2017, 14:30-16:00

Please note that there are two separate locations where the location for each student is determined by the first letter of his/her last/family name:

(1) For students for which the first letter of his/her last/family name is in the range of A - K (in alphabetic order), the EECS 3221 midterm exam location is: FC 203 (Founders College Room 203)

(2) For students for which the first letter of his/her last/family name is in the range of L - Z (in alphabetic order), the EECS 3221 midterm exam location is: SC 303 (Stong College Room 303)

The Midterm Test will cover the following:

a) Chapters 1-5 of the textbook “Operating System Concepts” 9th Edition.

b) All the slides in OS_ch1.pdf, OS_ch2.pdf, OS_ch3.pdf, OS_ch4.pdf, OS_ch5.pdf - as well as all the material covered in the lectures up to and including the Tuesday February 14, 2017 lecture. Please make sure that you have the most up-to-date version of the lecture notes.

It is possible that the Midterm Test may include true/false questions, questions that require short answers, questions that require calculations, questions that may require the drawing of diagrams, questions that require slightly longer answers, questions that may require the writing of short programs using pseudo C code similar to that used throughout the textbook, and other possible question formats.

- Please note that, in order to make sure that everyone in the class gets exactly the same information regarding the midterm and final exam, the instructor will not answer individual e-mail questions regarding what will be on and what will not be on the midterm and final exam, because that would not be fair to those students who do not receive such information. - If you have any questions related to the midterm or final exam, please ask such questions during the lectures.

Please note that course component marks, when available, can be accessed by logging in to red.cse.yorku.ca, then typing the following command:

courseInfo 3221 2016-17 W