CS 240: Advanced Topics in Operating Systems
Autumn 2024—Dawson Engler
Class Abstract
CS 240 is a graduate level course in operating systems, covering classic and new papers in virtual memory management, synchronization and communication, file systems, protection and security, extensions and fault tolerance, and the history and experience of systems programming.
Most of the work in this course consists of reading journal and conference papers. We will usually cover one paper for each class meeting. This class is primarily discussion based, and attendance and active participation are required. We expect you to read the papers carefully before the relevant class session; class time will not be used to rehash the material in the papers. Instead, it will be used to highlight the important points and discuss some of the more interesting features. There will be as much as 10-15 hours of reading per week.
This course will have reading questions (approximately one per class meeting) and one or two medium-sized programming assignments. We'll also have a midterm and final exam; each will be during class. The tentative policy for the exams is that you can bring in any number of hard copy resources, but no digital ones.
Grades will be roughly weighted as follows, although the exact breakdown may change:
- Exams (60%)
- Participation (30%)
- Programming Assignments (10%)
Reading questions are counted towards the participation portion of the grade.
The course is organized roughly as follows:
- Concurrency (3 weeks)
- Memory Management (2 weeks)
- File Systems (2 weeks)
- Security (2 weeks)
We assume you have taken an undergraduate OS class such as CS 112 or CS 140E, and have a working understanding of OS concepts.
Course Information
- Discussion: T/Th 4:30 PM–5:50 PM in Skilling
Auditorium
- This course is based on in-person discussion. Attendance and participation are required.
- Instructor: Dawson Engler—Office Hours by appointment
- Course Assistants
- Akshay Srivatsan—Office Hours on Mondays, 9–11am in Gates 460
- Justin Weiler—Office Hours on Fridays, 2–3:30pm in Huang Basement
- Staff Email: cs240-aut2425-staff@lists.stanford.edu
- Please only use this email for urgent matters; anything related to course material or policies should be posted on Ed.
- Newsgroup: Ed Discussion
- Submissions: Gradescope
Schedule
The exact schedule for this year is still being decided, but will approximately resemble previous years.
| Week | Tuesday | Thursday |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
9/24
|
9/26 |
| 2 |
10/1 |
10/3 |
| 3 |
10/8
|
10/10 |
| 4 |
10/15 |
10/17 |
| 5 |
10/22 |
10/24 |
| 6 |
10/29 Midterm Exam |
10/31 |
| 7 |
11/5 No Class—Democracy Day |
11/7
|
| 8 |
11/12 |
11/14
|
| 9 |
11/19
|
11/21 |
| ∅ |
11/26 No Class - Thanksgiving |
11/28 No Class - Thanksgiving |
| 10 |
12/03
|
12/05 Final Exam |
SCPD Information
The attendance requirement is waived for SCPD students; other course requirements remain the same. SCPD students are encouraged to participate asynchronously via Ed. Exams may be taken in-person with non-SCPD students; if they are taken remotely instead, exam monitors must be nominated in accordance with SCPD policies, and the exams must be coordinated with the SCPD exams team. SCPD students may attend office hours virtually; however, please try to let us know in advance so we can do the necessary setup.