American University of Sharjah | College of Engineering

1. Course Number and Course Title:

CMP 310 – Operating Systems

2. Credits hours
3-0-3

3. Prerequisites and/or co-requisites

Prerequisites: CMP 305 (Data Structures and Algorithms) and COE 251 (Introduction to
Computer Systems) or COE 241 (Microcontrollers: Programming and Interfacing)
Prerequisite/concurrent: N/A; Co-requisites: N/A

4. Name and Contact Information of Instructor:

Dr. Rana E. Ahmed
Office: ESB-2055
Email : rahmed@aus.edu
Phone: (06) 515-2947
Office Hours: Tues: 930-11am and 1230-145pm; Thurs: 930-11am; or by appointment.

5. Course Description
Introduces operating systems, process management, process scheduling, interprocess commu-
nications, semaphores and monitors, memory management techniques, virtual memory, I/O
management, deadlock avoidance, file system design and security issues. Employs examples of
commonly used operating systems (e.g., Windows and Linux).

6. Textbook, title, author, and year

Textbook:
• Abraham Silberschatz, Peter B. Galvin and Greg Gagne, “Operating System Concepts”,
10e, 2021, ISBN 13: 978-1119800361, Wiley
Other supplemental material:
th
• William Stallings, “Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles”, 9 Edition,
2018, Pearson.
th
• Andrew Tanenbaum and Herbert Bos, “Modern Operating Systems”, 4 edition, 2015,
Pearson.
• CISCO’s Linux Unhatched free online course:
https://www.netacad.com/courses/os-it/ndg-linux-unhatched

7. Course Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
1. Describe the architecture and different subsystems that make up a modern
operating system.
2. Create cooperating processes and threads.
3. Apply various techniques to enforce mutual exclusion and avoid deadlock in
concurrent threads.
4. Analyse memory management concepts, including fetching, replacement and
resident set management.
5. Evaluate different types of processor scheduling algorithms, including major short-
term and real-time scheduling algorithms.
6. Explain the organization of I/O system, I/O buffering, and disk scheduling
7. Evaluate different filesystem organization techniques.
8. Use Linux system commands.
9. Program simple BASH scripts to automate tasks.
 American University of Sharjah | College of Engineering

8. Teaching and Learning Methodologies:

Methods include lectures, homework/ mini projects, quizzes, and exams.

9. Course Topics and Schedule:

Topics/Activity Weeks
Operating System Structure; Introduction to Linux; Program development under Linux Weeks 1-3
Processes and Process Management Week 4
Threads Week 5
Concurrency: mutual exclusion, semaphores, monitors Weeks 6-8
Deadlocks Week 9
Scheduling, Real-time scheduling Week 10-
11
Memory management, Virtual memory Weeks 12
I/O, Disk Scheduling & RAID Week 13
File systems Week 14
BASH scripting and protection and security Week 15
Final Exam Week 16

10. Schedule of Laboratory and other Non-Lecture Sessions:

N/A

11. Out-of-Class Assignments with Due Dates:

Assignment Due Date (tentative)
Homework 1 week 2
Homework 2 week 4
Homework 3 week 6
Homework 4 week 8
Homework 5; Mini week 10
project 1
Homework 6 week 12
Homework 7; Mini week 14
project 2
 American University of Sharjah | College of Engineering

12. Student Evaluation:

Assessment Weight Due Date(tentative)
Quizzes 8% Once a month
Attendance 2%
Homework / Mini 10% Cf. Section 11
projects
Midterm1 22% Monday, March 4
Midterm2 23% Wednesday, April 17
Final Exam 35% As per registrar’s schedule

13. Assessment Instruments:

Assessment Course Learning Outcomes
Homework/ Mini O1 – O9
projects
Midterm 1 O1 – O3, O8
Midterm 2 O4 – O9
Final Exam O1 – O9

14. Contribution of Course to Program Outcomes:

BSCS Program outcome Emphasis in Course

this course Learning
Outcomes
(1) Analyze a complex computing problem and to apply principles ● O1-O7
of computing and other relevant disciplines to identify solutions.

◑
(2) Design, implement, and evaluate a computing-based solution to O1-O9
meet a given set of computing requirements in the context of the
program’s discipline.
(3) Communicate effectively in a variety of professional contexts.
(4) Recognize professional responsibilities and make informed
judgments in computing practice based on legal and ethical
principles.
(5) Function effectively as a member or leader of a team engaged in
activities appropriate to the program’s discipline.
(6) Apply computer science theory and software development ● O2-O9
fundamentals to produce computing-based solutions.

Emphasis: ● High; ◑ Medium; m Low; Blank – Nothing Specific Expected

BSCoE Program outcome Emphasis in Course

this course Learning
Outcomes
(1) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering ● O1-O7
problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and
mathematics

◑
(2) an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that O1-O9
meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety,
and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and
economic factors
 American University of Sharjah | College of Engineering

(3) an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences

(4) an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities
in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which
must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global,
economic, environmental, and societal contexts
(5) an ability to function effectively on a team whose members
together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive
environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives
(6) an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, ● O2, O3
analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw
conclusions
(7) an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using
appropriate learning strategies.

Emphasis: ● High; ◑ Medium; m Low; Blank – Nothing Specific Expected

15. Grading Scale:

Letter Grade Total Grade (T) Letter Grade Total Grade (T)
A 94 ≤ T C+ 70 ≤ T < 75
A– 90 ≤ T < 94 C 65 ≤ T < 70
B+ 85 ≤ T < 90 C– 60 ≤ T < 65
B 80 ≤ T < 85 D 55 ≤ T < 60
B– 75 ≤ T < 80 F T < 55

General Policies

1. All lecture material will be available on ilearn.

2. Please check your AUS email on a regular basis for possible announcements about this course.
3. Late assignments/ projects will not be accepted.
4. All assignments should be done individually; no group work is allowed.
5. Exams are closed-books and closed-notes.
6. All mid term exams will be held during normal class hours.
7. The final exam will be comprehensive.
8. All exams and quizzes will be held as per AUS guidelines during the semester.
9. If any exam or quiz is to be held online, then AUS guidelines using the Lockdown browser +
Respondus Monitor will be followed.
10. AUS policies on cheating and academic dishonesty will be observed. Cheating will result in an XF
grade in the course. Zero tolerance on this matter!!
11. AUS class attendance policies will be fully enforced. If you miss more than 15% of the classes, then
you will be withdrawn from the course. This policy will be strictly observed. I will be taking
attendance randomly (i.e., on random class day and random time), and only those attendances
will be counted towards the calculation of the grade for the attendance. Absences due to
acceptable documented genuine reasons will be exempted.
12. All mobile phones, laptops, smart watches and other electronic gadgets should be switched off while
the class is in session. Any violation of this policy will result in asking the student to leave the class
immediately.
 American University of Sharjah | College of Engineering

Makeups: There will be no makeups for the missed quizzes and midterm exam. If you miss a quiz because of a
genuine valid excuse (e.g., sickness), documented properly as per AUS regulations, then that quiz marks will
carry the same percentage you get in the upcoming midterm or final exam (whichever comes first). Similarly,
if miss a midterm exam because of a genuine, valid excuse, then that missed exam marks will have the same
percentage you get in the final exam.
Homework: All homework assignments / mini projects should be submitted online on iLearn by due date and
time. Late submissions will be given 0 unless you have a valid reason for the lateness.
The main objective of a homework in this course is to provide students an opportunity to apply and practice the
concepts learned in the lectures. The submitted homework will not be graded. Full points for a homework will
be given to you if you have submitted the homework on time and have shown genuine effort in solving the
homework. The instructor will provide the solution to the homwork after its submission date.
The mini projects could be solo or with a group of two students (to be announced later).

Honor Code and Academic Integrity:

This class will be conducted in accordance with the University’s Honor Code. Academic dishonesty will not be
tolerated, whether in quizzes or exams, homework or lab assignments, project, and any other course evaluation
where a student is representing their individual work as a product of their own effort (or team work, in the case
of projects).

Use of ChatGPT or Other Generative AI Tools

Use of ChatGPT or other Generative AI tools is prohibited in this course. It is considered an
academic integrity violation to represent output of a generative artificial intelligence tool (such
as ChatGPT) as your own work. Related AUS policies on academic integrity violation will be
enforced.