Teaching Operating Systems Research Articles

Resources for Teaching Operating Systems: A Survey of Instructors and a Literature Review

Objectives : Faculty new to teaching operating systems or those looking to refresh their course need to understand the state of the art in operating system education. Toward this goal, we conducted a survey of operating system instructors to understand how they approach teaching the course and what textbook and software platforms they use in their classrooms. We also conducted a literature review examining two decades of papers focused on teaching operating systems to undergraduates. Survey : We surveyed people who teach operating systems at the undergraduate level to determine which textbook they use, on which software they base projects, and how they approach teaching the course. Literature Review : We searched the ACM Digital Library for publications focused on undergraduate education about operating systems. We selected a total of 51 papers. For each selected paper, we identified which approach (i.e., concrete vs. abstract) and perspective (i.e., internal or external) on teaching operating systems the authors used, which Curriculum 2023 topics they covered, and on what type of system (e.g., educational, production, research) their projects were based. We also looked at the evaluation of the methods and the impact these papers have had on the field. Findings: Instructors teaching operating systems tend to balance both their approach and their perspective, with a slight leaning toward an internal perspective, whereas authors supporting operating system education overwhelmingly support an internal, concrete approach to the course. In addition, authors also tend to focus on a few key topics, including System Calls and Processes, Concurrency, Scheduling, Virtual Memory, File Systems API and Implementation, and Performance Evaluation. Conclusions : This work will help faculty teaching operating systems to consider which approach and perspective they wish to take in their course and to find the resources most relevant to their preferred approach and perspective. It can also help focus future research in the area of operating system education, to align it better with current practices.

The Impact of Teaching Operating Systems using Two Different Teaching Modalities

This paper presents a preliminary look at the performance of two cohorts enrolled in an Operating System course which was taught using two different teaching delivery methods. Operating systems is a technical, senior-level, undergraduate course that includes abstract concepts, mechanisms, and their implementations. This course exposes students to a UNIX-based operating system and includes concurrent programming (threads and synchronization), inter-process communication, CPU scheduling main memory, and virtual memory management. Technical courses present an additional dimension of difficulty when compared to non-technical courses which are more focused on soft skills because they require strong technical skills such as programming and problem-solving. This paper discusses other research studies and statistical data which underscore some of the challenges and differences encountered when teaching a traditional face-to-face versus an online course and the impact on student success. In this work, the 2019 cohort was taught operating systems in the traditional face-to-face modality, while the 2020 cohort was taught the course using the synchronous online modality. The synchronous online modality is very similar to the face-to-face traditional class, in that, lectures are delivered in real-time; this allows students to ask the instructor questions in real-time. Each cohort was tested on the same course objectives (topics) over one semester in 2019 and 2020. The instructor presents the students’ performance on three(3) course exams and discusses the differences and similarities in their overall performance between the two groups.

Using TOST in Teaching Operating Systems and Concurrent Programming Concepts

Using TOST in Teaching Operating Systems and Concurrent Programming Concepts

Lessons from adopting a maker approach to teaching operating systems with Raspberry Pi

PurposeThis paper aims to propose a maker’s approach to teaching an operating systems (OSs) course in which students apply knowledge of OSs to making a toy robot by focusing on input/outputs, hardware devices and system programming.Design/methodology/approachClassroom action research is involved in this study.FindingsAfter the course was taught in this maker’s approach in two consecutive school years, some observations were reported. Students were enthusiastic in doing a series of assignments leading to the completion of a toy robot that follows a black line on the ground. In addition to enjoying the learning process by making tangible products, the students were excited to be able to demonstrate the skills and knowledge they learned with the robots they made.Research limitations/implicationsThe research results were based mainly on the instructor’s observations during the lectures and labs.Practical implicationsLessons from this study can inspire other instructors to turn traditional engineering courses into maker courses to attract students who enjoy making. Industry should welcome engineering graduates to join the companies with more hands-on experiences they have gained from maker courses.Social implicationsAlthough the maker movement has attracted much attention in K12 education, there is little research that studies how this maker spirit can be incorporated in traditional engineering courses that focus mainly on theories or software.Originality/valueIncluding electronics and mechanical components in programming assignments would bring surprising effects on students’ motivation in learning.

ЗАСТОСУВАННЯ ТЕХНОЛОГІЙ ВІРТУАЛІЗАЦІЇ UNIX-ПОДІБНИХ ОПЕРАЦІЙНИХ СИСТЕМ У ПІДГОТОВЦІ БАКАЛАВРІВ ІНФОРМАТИКИ

Despite the widespread use of virtualization technologies in education the problem of individual selection of virtualization tools for teaching certain courses, including teaching operating systems to Bachelors of Computer Science, remains scarcely studied. Research of operating systems teaching process to Bachelors of Computer Science found a range of issues in using virtualization technologies. These are as listed: hardware and software failures; low performance of virtualized operating systems; lack of adapted instructions; dependence on specific computer laboratories; unequal conditions of independent work with virtualized operating systems. Comparison of Bachelors of Computer Science scores in Operating Systems course which included studying Linux and Windows operating systems and also Fundamentals of Operating Systems Theory, resulted in general lower level of learning outcomes in Linux compared to the ones of the entire academic subject. A survey of Ukrainian teachers of Operating Systems course shows a number of differences in teaching process. It includes differences in teachers’ experience of using virtualization technologies, variety of virtualization technologies applied during the course, factors estimation for selecting virtualization tools. The article proposes the methodology of using unix-like operating systems virtualization technologies in professional training of Bachelors of Computer Science based on the variable approach to using mentioned technologies. The approach involves combining several virtualization tools in the frames of one course of Operating Systems to meet specific features of teaching the course as well as individual students’ needs and ensures hardware and software fault tolerance. Didactic model underlying the proposed methodology is described in the article. Experimental results on methodology effectiveness are provided.

Design and Development of a Web-based Interactive Software Tool for Teaching Operating Systems

An international association advancing the multidisciplinary study of informing systems. Founded in 1998, the Informing Science Institute (ISI) is a global community of academics shaping the future of informing science.

An overview of Virtual Machine (VM) technology and its implementation in I.T. student labs at Utah Valley State College

Businesses and industry are rapidly integrating Virtual Machine (VM) technology into their IT infrastructure to lower power, cooling, and space requirements in the data center. Properly configured VMs increase both uptime and security. VMs are also implemented on workstations for software testing and application isolation. Utilizing VMs in educational environments provides an inexpensive and easily replicated environment for student lab assignments and experimentation. This paper describes both desktop and server VMs, describes how they function, and compares some of the VMs available in the marketplace. It concludes with examples of how desktop VMs are utilized in student IT labs at Utah Valley State College to enhance learning experiences in courses teaching Operating Systems, Data Communications theory, Information Security, and Computer Forensics.

Teaching operating systems with Windows

Operating system is one of the largest pieces of software, which makes its understanding quite intimidating to students. This paper reports our experiences of complementing the traditional Unix-based operating system curriculum with Windows alternative. Our goals are two-fold: First , we aim at making the learning of operating system concepts more relevant to students, by using Windows which is a dominant operating system choice among students, Second , we aim at making the course more diverse , by presenting alternative design examples to Unix-based instructional materials such that students can learn from comparing and contrasting. In this poster, we will present available educational resources and our contributions to them.

Teaching operating systems with ruby

Dynamic languages have regained enormous popularity in recent years. One of the principal dynamic programming languages, Ruby, has been used as the language for assignment work and the presentation of concepts in an introductory Operating Systems course. This was a strange choice for a systems course but there were several good reasons for the choice including the ease with which Ruby provides access to Unix commands and system calls. After some initial problems, the change has been very successful and demonstrates that even in the core courses of a Computer Science curriculum dynamic programming languages have benefits.

Application of finite state automata to the bakery algorithm in critical section modeling

The Bakery Algorithm (BA), developed by Dr. Leslie Lamport [1], is utilized as a method to a critical section (CS) problem modeling. A common solution to a CS problem in Operating Systems (OS) must satisfy the three requirements: (1) mutual exclusion; (2) progress; and (3) bounded waiting. The property of BA that is most important for this investigation is that it solves the mutual exclusion problem, while satisfying the requirements of CS. The system consisting of two processes is investigated. The proposed computational model may be extended to any number of processes. By offering clarity to the CS problem, this model may be used in OS design due to its simplistic computational structure, as well as it could be applied to teaching Operating Systems.

Experiences teaching operating systems using virtual platforms and Linux

Operating system courses teach students much more when they provide hands-on kernel-level project experience with a real operating system. However, enabling a large class of students to do kernel development can be difficult. To address this problem, we created a virtual kernel development environment in which operating systems can be developed, debugged, and rebooted in a shared computer facility without affecting other users. Using virtual machines and remote display technology, our virtual kernel development laboratory enables even distance learning students at remote locations to participate in kernel development projects with on-campus students. We have successfully deployed and used our virtual kernel development environment together with the open-source Linux kernel to provide kernel-level project experiences for over nine hundred students in the introductory operating system course at Columbia University.

Teaching operating systems

An operating system (OS) is a program that manages computer hardware. And although today's commercial-off-the-shelf desktop operating systems appear to be an integral part of PCs and workstation to many users, a fundamental understanding of the algorithms, principles, heuristics, and optimizations used is crucial for creating efficient application software. Furthermore, many of the principles in OS courses are relevant to large system applications like databases and web servers.Within this paper, we present our approach towards teaching OS concepts based on the Windows family of operating systems. In contrast to many stable Unix-based curricula, a Windows-based OS curriculum has to take into account the OS as a moving target. And although Windows source code has been made available to academic institutions, managing complexity is among the biggest challenges when teaching OS concepts based on Windows.Teaching experiences reported within this paper have lead to development of the "Curriculum Resource Kit (CRK)", an entire Windows-based OS curriculum that is freely available for download.

Experiences teaching operating systems using virtual platforms and linux

Operating system courses teach students much more when they provide hands-on kernel-level project experience with a real operating system. However, enabling a large class of students to do kernel development can be difficult. To address this problem, we created a virtual kernel development environment in which operating systems can be developed, debugged, and rebooted in a shared computer facility without affecting other users. Using virtual machines and remote display technology, our virtual kernel development laboratory enables even distance learning students at remote locations to participate in kernel development projects with on-campus students. We have successfully deployed and used our virtual kernel development environment together with the open-source Linux kernel to provide kernel-level project experiences for over nine hundred students in the introductory operating system course at Columbia University.

Teaching operating systems administration with user mode linux

User Mode Linux is a virtual machine running on a GNU-Linux operating system. It is the right choice for teaching operating systems' administration, as it does not need any dedicated hardware. It runs at user level (no need for root, i.e. administrator, access or possible security threats) and it does not have the performance problems of an emulator. This paper describes how to set up a laboratory for teaching operating systems' administration.

Conflict resolution for readers and writers

For those of us who have been teaching Operating Systems for years, you may remember with nostalgia the days when Operating Systems texts [ex: Deitel 1984] included Ada code to illustrate solutions for concurrency problems. I find concurrency the most difficult topic to teach in Operating Systems, and expressing solutions in Ada is a strong teaching aid. Ada's tasking construct is powerful and readable. In addition, an Ada Programming Support Environment enables hands-on experimentation.The Readers/Writers problem, a classic mutual exclusion synchronization problem, puzzled computer science professionals for years. Explaining these solutions, as presented in current Operating Systems texts, is daunting.We contrast code expressed in C to that proposed by Burns [Burns1985] and Barnes [Barnes1995] for readability. We then suggest a slight modification to obtain what we consider to be a preferred solution, one that illuminates concurrency issues in general.

Teaching operating systems

This article surveys the motives for including operating systems in a computing course, and from these deduces the content of a module in operating systems, and how it should be taught. It suggests an approach involving theory, internals, and system services.

Teaching operating systems using Turbo C

Operating systems are an example of a subject that, given the right tools, can be taught in a practical manner, allowing students to understand, and hence appreciate, the internal workings of commercial operating systems such as VMS, Unix, or VM. Not surprisingly, the tools needed in an operating systems course are, at a minimum, a hardware testbed and a programming language into which algorithms can be translated. This paper describes how many of the salient points concerning operating systems can be covered in a practical manner using the PC and Turbo C.

Teaching operating systems

There are several ways to approach the concept of operating systems when trying to explain it to students. Different methods are discussed in this paper, giving some ideas on how training can be carried out. Observations are based on the author's own experience.

On teaching operating systems

This paper discusses teaching an Operating Systems Course. Different approaches to teaching the course are presented. An operating systems course is one of the kernel courses in computer curriculum of both China and other countries. This course is of critical importance for students to understand the working procedures and principles of modern computer systems, to understand the methodology and approach of the design of system software, and to gain an appreciation for the requirements of other large-scale software projects.

Teaching operating systems in a virtual machine environment

Teaching operating systems in a virtual machine environment