IC221: Systems Programming (SP16)

Course Policy

Instructors

• Assistant Professor Adam Aviv e-mail: aviv@usna.edu *course coordinator
• Capt Tim Garcia: tgarcia@usna.edu
• Distinguished Visiting Professor Carl Albing: albing@usna.edu

Optional Text Book

• Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment (3rd ed.), Stevens, Rago ( Title is shortened to APUE in the notes and calendar)

Extra Instruction

• You are encouraged to come in for extra instruction (EI) when you are having trouble. Your individual instructors will have different feelings about drop-ins versus appointments.
• You MUST seek assistance and EI from your instructor first before seeking assistance from other instructors and should only do so once your instructor has acknowledged that they are unavailable to meet in a timely manner. A timely manner is within 2-3 working days. Please be respectful of your instructors time and availability, and you should always feel free to email your instructor for help.
• If your instructor is away for an extended period of time, instructions will be provided on whom you should contact for assistance.
• You may seek help from MGSP at any time without instructor permission

MGSP

There will be three MGSP student leaders to compliment extra instruction to be held before labs and homework are due.

• Sun. 2000-2100 in MI302
• Thr. 2000-2200 in MI302

Course Objectives and Assessment

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the operation of the UNIX OS from the user, systems programmer, and application programmer perspective. (supports Student Outcome i and g)
2. Use a UNIX command shell to interact the file system, developing basic scripting, and develop command line tools. (supports Student Outcome i)
3. Interact with the O.S. through system call API to manage processes and interact with the file system (supports Student Outcome i)
4. Use standard debugging techniques using gdb and valgrind (supports Student Outcome i)
5. Design simple network programs that use the socket API (supports GSO i and EC310 Objective 1)
6. Design software on UNIX that uses concurrency to solve problems. (supports Student Outcome i)
7. Learn basic operating system security concepts such as those related to file permissions, user group permissions, unintended execution paths. (supports Student Outcome e, i and g and EC310 Objective 2)

General Student Outcomes

• (Student Outcome e) An understanding of professional, ethical, legal, security, and social issues and responsibilities
• (Student Outcome i) An ability to use current techniques, skills, and tools necessary for computing practices.
• (Student Outcome g) An ability to analyze the local and global impact of computing on individuals, organizations and society

EC310 Course Objective Assessment

1. (EC310 Objective 1) Describe in depth the principles, mechanisms, and technologies of information systems' hardware and software in both computers and communications domains, and describe the development of typical exploits used against vulnerabilities in information systems.
2. (EC310 Objective 2) Identify action that can be taken to protect information systems' hardware and software in both computers and communications domains against potential exploits.

Grading Policy

Grading Breakdown

• Final Grades
• 20%: Final Exam
• 20% : 6-week and 12-week Written Exam
• 9% : Practicum
• 33% : Labs
• 15% : Homework
• 3% : EI Attendance
• 6-Week/12-Week Grades
• 12-Week Grades: 33% Exam, 9% Practicum, 33% Labs, 20% Homework, 3% EI
• 6-Week Grades: 33% Exam, 9% Practicum, 33% Labs, 20% Homework, 3% EI

EI Attendance

You will be expected to attend at least 3 EI sessions of at least 15 minutes in length throughout the semester. One of those session must occur before the 6-Week Marking period, the second must occur between the 6-Week and 12-Week Marking period. Finally, and a third session must occur between the 12-Week and Final Exam. Of course, you may attend EI more than three times, however, three of those times must occur in timeline described previously.

Submission Policies

Homework Submission Policy

Homeworks for each week will post on the first lecture of the week, and are due the following week's first lecture. Homeworks must be submitted in hard copy to the instructor.

Homework Late Policy :

• Late Homework will not be accepted.
• If you are unable to attend the first lecture of the week due to an excused absence, such as M/O or SIQ, you are expected to submit the homework at the next, most convenient lecture or lab.

Lab Submission Policy

All labs are released on Friday and will be due the following Thursday at 23:59. All lab submissions must occur via the course submit system, which can ONLY occur via the lab computers. Submission by other means will not be accepted.

Lab Grace days:

• Each student will have 4 grace days to submit an assignment late without penalty. You must notify the instructor through the instructor specified means 12 hours prior to the lab deadline to use a grace day
• Grace days are applied in full, a whole day is applied even if submitted less then 24 hours past the deadline. For example, a student that submits on Friday at 1200 still uses a full grace day, and a student who submits on Saturday at 2000 has used two grace days.
• Once all grace days are used, students may not submit late. The assignment will receive a zero.
• Weekdays and weekends are treated equally in this policy.

Practicum Submission Policy

Practicum are assigned as part of each marking period, 6-week, 12-week, and final. They will be released at 0800 on the day they are assigned and will be due that day at 23:59. Practicum will not be accepted late for any reason.

Honor, Collaboration and Classroom Conduct Policy

The honor and collaboration policy of this class references and adapts the language of Computer Science Department Instruction 1531.1D, Policy Concerning Programming Projects. We make the following course-specific adaptations and revisions below; however, when not explicitly stated, of the Department's policy holds.

Homework Assignment Collaboration

• You may work freely with classmates on the homeworks. This includes working together and solving problems together.
• You are required to indicate all collaborators on your homework assignments.
• Each student must submit an individual assignment, and the pencil-to-paper/fingers-to-keyboard work must be your own. Even when collaborating, in many situations, we do not expect two students to produce the same answer.
• Copying of homework assignments is strictly forbidden and is considered an honor violation. We define copying as the act of viewing or discussing another's answers, copying down those answers without having completed the work individually.

Lab Assignment Collaboration Policy

• All programming assignments must be the sole work of the student.
• You may not collaborate on any programming or lab assignment without instructor permission.
• You may not receive or copy program code from other students.
• You may not share your program code with other students.
• You may not view another student's program code.
• You may not view solutions to program assignments from other semesters, other classes at USNA or elsewhere, or from other unauthorized sources, such as the Internet.
• You must be prepared to explain any program code you submit.
• All submission are subject to automated plagiarism detection.

Lab Assignment Discussion Policy

• You may discuss any assignment with other students in a abstract, problem solving way, and you are strongly encouraged to do so. However, discussion should not violate the collaboration policy as stated above, for example, you may not view other students' solutions or share your code with other students.
• You may ask an instructor for help, show an instructor your code, and use any code provided by an instructor in your submission. However, you may not share program code (or pseudocode) provided by an instructor to you with other students unless authorized and doing so would violates the collaboration policy of viewing other students' solutions or sharing your code with other students.
• If you received any assistance in completing an assignment through discussions with another student or instructor, you are required to acknowledge that assistance in your README file.
• While discussion based assistance is allowed, it in no way implies that the assisted and assisting student will submitting identical program solutions. As indicated by the collaboration policy, all programming assignments must be the sole work of the student, and it is highly unlikely, even with assistance, two students' independently programmed solutions would be identical.

Practicum Collaboration and Discussion Policy

• All practicum assignments must be the sole work of the student
• You may not discuss the practicum with other students.
• You may not receive or give aid to other students regarding the practicum
• You may not receive help from an instructor except to clarifying obvious ambiguity.
• You must the following directions provided in writing on the practicum cover sheet.

Classroom Decorum

• Beverages are permitted in classrooms and labs provided they are in closed containers. No food or smokeless tobacco is permitted in classrooms or labs.
• Vulgar language and classroom disruptions will not be tolerated. A student who disrupts the class for those reasons will be asked to leave immediately and will be marked has having left early in the attendance roster and may be considered for a conduct offense.