• Knowledge of the kernel structure and organization of an operating system • Knowledge of virtual memory mechanism • Knowledge of process scheduling and parallel execution threads • Understanding concepts of security • Skill for developing operating systems modules • Skill for using system calls for the creation, synchronization, and termination of processes and threads • Skill to understand and implement programs based on system calls • Skill for using embedded systems development tools: cross-compilers, emulators, debuggers, profilers, virtualizers.

• Knowledge of a computer system architecture: in particular structure of the CPU and memory • Knowledge of the interrupt mechanism and basics of an Assembler language • Knowledge of the main data type structures and algorithms • Good programming skill in the C language

Operating system architecture (0.5 CFU) - Operating systems history - Operating systems classification - Structure of an operating system in terms of resources and corresponding management modules. - The OS Kernel: possible organizations. - Process types Processes and Threads (2,5 CFU) - Processes: definition and types - Concurrent processes - Process management - Process scheduling - Process synchronization and synchronization primitives - Inter-Process Communication Memory management, virtualization (1.5 CFU) - Segmentation and Paging - Virtual memory Introduction to OS security (0.5 CFU) OS Development (1 CFU) - Introduction to small academic-oriented OS - Development tool-chains for OS development - Challenges in OS modules design

The course is organized in lectures and laboratories. Lectures (4 credits) consist of the presentation and discussion of slides that will be available on the teaching portal prior to the starting of the lessons as well as tutorials on OS code development. During the laboratory activity (2 credits) the students will solve problems, implementing programs in C language, related to the main topics of the courses.

The slides used for the course will be made available to the students, through the official page of the course on the website. The textbooks are the following: • Silberschatz, Galvin, Gagne, "Operating System Concepts", Tenth Edition, John Wiley & Son, 2018 • Tanenbaum, Bos, "Modern Operating Systems", 4th Edition, Pearson, 2015

Exam: Written test; Group project;

The examination consists of two parts. PART 1: a written test including 6 questions covering all topics analyzed during classes. This may include: (1) open questions, (2) multiple-choice questions, (3) exercises on specific topics (e.g., memory management), (4) development of small C functions based on system calls. Every question receives a score between 1 and 3 points (the score of each question will be published during the exam). The maximum score for this part of the exam is 16. The duration is of 90 minutes. PART 2: a project focusing on OS development carried out in a team (typically 2/3 members). Every year a set of topics will be assigned. Nevertheless, the students are free to propose other topics of interest. In particular, projects that join activities with other courses are welcome. When the project is ready the student must prepare a presentation of the work done highlighting the contribution of each member of the team to the results. In this phase, the students may be asked questions to assess their knowledge of the developed work. The maximum score for this part of the exam is 16. The project aims at assessing: - The ability to implement an OS component based on the requirements of the project - The efficiency of the implementation in terms of performance, memory usage, etc. - The ability of the students to work in a team - The ability of the students to present their work - The individual contribution of each student to the project. The minimum score to pass each part of the exam is 9 out of 16 points. PART1 and PART2 can be completed in different time frames.

In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.