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\title{Computer Science 271 \\
Software I}

\author{Dr. Stephen Bloch \\
office 112 Alumn\ae\ Hall \\
phone 877-4483 \\
email \texttt{sbloch@boethius.adelphi.edu} \\
office hours T 9--11, WF 12--2, or by appointment}

\maketitle

\section{Subject Matter}
This course will explain the basic concepts common to many computer
operating systems and introduce you to a great number of tools and
features provided by operating systems, especially Unix, which is
currently the most popular at academic and research institutions and
coming into widespread use elsewhere.

The Unix operating system has more personality than most, not
because of how it works but because the people who built (and continue
to build) it left such a distinctive mark on it with their senses of
beauty, humor, and responsible behaviour.  These have led to a system
which, once you've grasped its fundamental philosophy, allows you both
to make efficient use of your time and to have fun at it.

The creators of Unix used computers
all day, every day, and wanted to use them as efficiently as possible.
These people loved elegance and simplicity, and hated re-inventing the
wheel, so they built a number of simple tools that could be combined as
needed in billions of ways.  They also loved whimsy, so you will find a
lot of puns and jokes built into the system.  On the other hand, they
believed strongly in personal responsibility, so destructive pranks,
invasions of privacy, and insults are strongly discouraged --- usually
not by rules, but by peer pressure.  Unix has evolved from a computer
system to a philosophy and finally to a community.  I hope, among other
things, to make you productive and civilized members of that community.

A disadvantage of building the whole system out of simple tools is that
you need to learn a lot of simple tools before you can do anything.  So
in the first half of the semester you'll read a lot of documentation and
try your skill on small examples.  In the second half of the semester
the emphasis will shift somewhat from reading about Unix tools to
actually using them.

Many of the people in this class are taking CSC 270 concurrently.
You'll need to learn the same Unix tools and commands for both courses,
but whereas for 270 it will suffice to learn only their simplest, most basic
uses, in this class we'll discuss each tool and command in greater detail.

\pagebreak[3]
\section{Texts}
In the course of the semester I expect you to read most of the book
{\em A Student's Guide to Unix}, by Harley Hahn.  This very engaging,
fun book discusses Unix philosophy and many common tools and commands.
It does not cover Unix internals and programmers'
tools, so I expect you to learn about those through online documentation
later in the semester.  You can also learn a lot from the Net, and I may
give out other reading assignments by email or in magazines.

\textbf{You are responsible for everything
in the reading assignments, whether or not I discuss it in a lecture.}

\section{Grading}
As I write this (a week before classes start), I envision five homework
assignments, each worth 10\% of the semester grade,
a midterm worth 20\%, and a final exam worth 30\%.
I may change this somewhat as the semester unfolds.

% These numeric grades will be converted to letter grades as follows:
% I'll draw a curve showing the distribution of numeric grades, and look
% for naturally-occurring ``clumps''.  For each clump, especially the
% top and bottom ones, I'll examine some exam and
% homework papers to decide what letter grade seems appropriate.  This
% method corrects for excessively hard or excessively easy assignments
% while not penalizing anybody for having genius classmates.

Exams must be taken at the scheduled time, unless arranged in advance
or prevented by a documented medical or family emergency.  If you have
three or more exams scheduled on the same date, or
a religious holiday that conflicts with an exam or assignment due date,
please notify me in writing within the first two
weeks of the semester in order to receive due consideration.
% (and I'd
% prefer it if you let me know earlier --- you should know within the
% first week of class when all your exams are).
Exams not taken without one of
the above excuses will be recorded with a grade of 0.

Homework and programming
assignments will be accepted late, with a penalty of 1/3 per 24 hours
or portion thereof after they're due.  An hour late is 33\% off, 25
hours late is 67\% off, and after 48 hours don't bother turning it in.
It's still a good idea to do as much of it as you can, however,
because I'll assume on the exams that you've done the homework.

Programs are not abstract works of art,
they are supposed to run and solve real problems.  So if I get a program
that doesn't compile or run, or a program that has little or nothing to do
with the problem I assigned, I will give it a zero, no matter how much
time you put into it.  Don't bother turning in a program you haven't
tested yourself.

\section{Ethics}
Most of the assignments in this class are to be done individually.  You
may \emph{discuss general approaches} to a problem with classmates, but
you \emph{may not copy} large pieces of programs or homework solutions.
If you do, \emph{all} the students involved will be penalized.

All work on an exam must be entirely the work of the one
person whose name is at the top of the page.  If I have evidence that
one student copied from another on an exam, \emph{both} students will be
penalized; see above.

\pagebreak

\section{Schedule}
This class meets every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:00 AM to
11:50 AM, except on University holidays or if I cancel class.
%
% \subsection{Floating Events}
All dates in the following schedule are tentative, except those fixed
by the University; if some topic listed here as taking one lecture in
fact takes two lectures to cover adequately, or {\em vice versa},
the schedule will shift.

% In no case will an assignment be due earlier than indicated in the
% following schedule, but some may be due later; this will be announced
% in class a reasonable time in advance.  I'll try to keep an updated
% version of this schedule available online.  

I expect you to have read the specified chapters in the textbook
\emph{before} the lecture that deals with that topic; this way I can
concentrate my time on answering questions and clarifying subtle or
difficult points in the textbook, rather than on reading the textbook
to you, which will bore both of us.  \textbf{Please read the textbook!}

\begin{tabbing}
{\bf Date(s) \hskip20pt} \=
{\bf Assignment} \=
{\bf Reading \hskip10pt} \=
{\bf Subject} \kill
{\bf Date(s)} \>
{\hskip-20pt \bf Assignment} \>
{\bf Reading} \>
{\hskip40pt \bf Lecture Subject} \\
%
30 Aug \> \> \> Administrivia, accounts, \& passwords \\
1 Sept \> \> 1--2 \> What is an operating system?  What is Unix? \\
4 Sept \> \> \> Labor Day --- no classes \\
6 Sept \> \> 3--4, (5?) \> Logging in and out, etc. \\
8 Sept \> \> 6--7 \> Basic Unix commands \\
11 Sept \> HW1 \> 8--9 \> Online documentation and command syntax \\
13 Sept \> \> 10--11 \> Command shells \\*
\> \> \> Last day to add courses \\
15 Sept \> \> \> Shell scripts \\
18 Sept \> \> 19 \> Text editors (\texttt{ex, vi, emacs, sed, awk}) \\
20 Sept \> HW2 \> 20--21 \> The Unix file system \\
22 Sept \> \> 22 \> File-manipulation commands \\
25 Sept \> \> \> Rosh Hashanah --- no classes \\
27 Sept \> HW1 due \> 12--13 \> Basic Communication and the Net \\
29 Sept \> \> 14 \> Electronic mail \\*
\> \> \> Last day to drop courses \\
2 Oct \> \> 15--16 \> Filters, pipes, and combining programs \\*
4 Oct \> \> \> Yom Kippur --- no classes \\
6 Oct \> \> 17--18 \> Displaying and printing \\
9 Oct \> HW2 due \> \> The Shell-Program Interface \\
11 Oct \> HW3 \> \> Review for midterm, catch up \\
13 Oct \> \> \> Midterm exam \\
16 Oct \> \> \texttt{man} pages \> The \texttt{stdio} library \\
18 Oct \> \> \texttt{man} pages \> Process control: {\tt fork, exec, wait} \\
20 Oct \> HW3 due \> \texttt{man} pages \> More on process control \\
23 Oct \> \> \> Discuss midterm \\
25 Oct \> HW4 \> \texttt{man} pages \> Low-level Unix I/O calls \\
27 Oct \> \> \texttt{man} pages \> More on Unix system calls \\*
\> \> \> Last day to apply for May degree \\
30 Oct \> \> \texttt{man} pages \> The \texttt{rcs} version control utility \\
1 Nov \> \> \texttt{man} pages \> The \texttt{gdb} debugger \\
3 Nov \> \> \texttt{man} pages \> More on \texttt{gdb} \\*
\> \> \> Last day to withdraw from courses \\
6 Nov \> \> \texttt{man} pages \> The \texttt{make} compilation control
utility \\
8 Nov \> \> \texttt{man} pages \> More on \texttt{make} \\
10 Nov \> \> \texttt{man} pages \> The \texttt{flex} scanner generator \\
13 Nov \> HW4 due \> \texttt{man} pages \> More on \texttt{flex} \\
15 Nov \> \> \texttt{man} pages \> Yet more \texttt{flex}; \texttt{yacc} \\
17 Nov \> HW5 \> \texttt{man} pages \> More on \texttt{yacc} \\
20 Nov \> \> handouts \> {\TeX} and {\LaTeX} \\
22 Nov \> \> handouts \> More on {\TeX} and {\LaTeX} \\
24 Nov \> \> \> Thanksgiving break --- no classes \\
27 Nov \> \> 23--24 \> The Net \\
29 Nov \> \> 24--25 \> The Net, continued \\
1 Dec \> \> \texttt{man} pages \> The World Wide Web and browsers \\
4 Dec \> \> on-line help \> HTML: writing your own Web pages \\
6 Dec \> \> on-line help \> HTML continued \\
8 Dec \> \> \> catch up \\
11 Dec \> HW5 due \> \> Review for Final Exam \\
15 Dec \> \> \> 10:30 AM--12:30 PM, Final Exam
\end{tabbing}

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			Homework assignments

HW1: demonstrate ability to use basic commands in my office
HW2: write a shell script using filters, I/O redirection, etc.
HW3: write a program using I/O and command-line arguments
HW4: write a shell with built-in commands and searched-for commands
HW5: extend the shell

