December 4, 2008

Hopefully you are all still reading this announcements page. Many of you were missing from class on Wednesday, December 3 when your outstanding assignments and quizzes were handed back.  It is important for you to pick these up to be certain that all of your assignments and quizzes are accounted for.  Please arrange to stop by my office if you were not there to pick these things up.

November 24, 2008

Hello all,

We are currently working on making copies of some of the homework and quizzes for our ABET (accrediting board) binder for a review next year.  Otherwise, they are ready to be returned.  I will contact you individually if you are missing any scores.

I am interested in seeing the programs you completed in action.  As you may recall, we were unable to do this straignt from the .java files in the lecture room as  result of incompatibilities with the IDEs various of you were using.  I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner, but I believe if you make an executable JAR flie of your program, it should work for execution on my machine. The IDE you are using should allow you to do this in a single step.  So, please send me your broker program and your deadlock program as an executable JAR.  When you do, be sure to name the jar files as below:

For the broker program: yourLastNamesBroker.jar

For the deadlock program, part 1: yourLastNamesDeadlock.jar

For the deadlock progrm, part 2: yourLastNamesNoDealock.jar

If anyone knows why this might not work, please let me know and we I will post a message about it. Also, if you prefer to demo the program personally, let me know.

Rocky

November 20, 2008

This is just a short note to let the class know that Rocky is working on the outstanding homework and quizzes and will be handing them back soon.  For now, answers to the most recent quiz on virtual memory can be found under logistics and then under resources on our website.

November 18, 2008

A CS graduate student sent me this high-quality, brief documentary on operating systems.  It is required viewing. Click here.

November 14, 2008

The class sessions on the website have been upgraded substantially.

October 31, 2008

As you register for courses for next semester, here are some courses to consider that may not otherwise be well publicized  because they are new, taught by a new professor, or taught less frequently than our usual courses. For more information on any of these courses, just contact the professor of the course. 

CS 392—Numerical Computation, taught by Professor Year Back Yoo.

CS 513—Computational Research Topics, taught by our new faculty member, Professor John Sheppard.

CS 432—Computational Biology taught by Professor Brendan Mumey.

Computer Science 432: Computational Biology

Spring Semester, 2009

Meets: 8:00-9:15 Tue/Thur, EPS 108

Course description:

Computational biology is an exciting new interdisciplinary field that considers computational problems arising in the study of biology.  Increasingly, biology is becoming an “information science”, in which computational methods are needed to advance the field.  A good example is the human genome project, which has stimulated a flurry of computational research to determine the DNA sequence of the human genome.  The goals of the course will be to survey classic problems in computational biology as well as recent topics that could lead to undergraduate and graduate research projects.

Course credit and prerequisites:

This is a 3-credit class suitable for upper division undergraduates or graduate students.  Prerequisites: CS222.  Upper division or graduate students from other departments with some computational experience will also be admitted by consent of the instructor.  It is a goal of the course that the student audience be interdisciplinary.

Textbook: “Computational Molecular Biology” by Pavel Pevzner.

Instructor: Brendan Mumey.  One of his research areas is computational biology.

For more information: Contact the instructor: EPS 364, E-mail: mumey@cs.montana.edu, Phone: 994-7811

To register: CRN 33850

A Golden Opportunity

Also, if you are a senior (i.e., if you will have completed at least 90 credits by the end of this semester), you should be aware of some great opportunities that often go unnoticed. 

You may be able to take graduate courses: you can take graduate courses that will count towards your computer science electives if you

• have taken the prerequisite classes (e.g., you can take CS 536 if you have taken CS 436)
• have a cumulative gpa of 3.25 or higher
• obtain the consent of the instructor (this is not always necessary, but is a good idea, and if you meet the gpa requirements it is very unlikely that you will be turned away).

A Platinum Opportunity

Now here is a good deal.  If you have senior status and have any thought at all of continuing on to an MS or PhD in CS, you may reserve up to 9 credits towards your graduate degree while you are still completing your undergraduate degree.  (The credits you reserve cannot be counted towards your undergraduate degree.) Note carefully that you must formally reserve these credits by filling out the form in the link below before the last day to add courses for the semester in which you take the course.)  Courses may be any qualifying 400 or 500 level course (see the list of courses that do not qualify by reading the Masters degree requirement on our website).  The graduate credit reservation form is found here: www.montana.edu/wwwdg/newforms/PettoRes.pdf.

One further issue to be aware of is that you must thoroughly understand financial aid implications of taking courses that you reserve for graduate school.  For example, your financial aid is given towards your undergraduate degree, so the minimum credit load for qualifying for financial aid in a given semester must be for credits towards your undergraduate degree (NOT courses you may also take and reserve for graduate credit). Be sure to determine your status with the financial aid office if you pursue this route. If you aren't enrolled for the proper number of credits towards your undergraduate degree, the Financial Aid Office may not recognized this until halfway through the semester, at which point your financial aid will be yanked.

October 30, 2008

Although it was discussed in class that you do not need to consider the case that the number of stocks could go negative, it appears that a number of people have considered this issue.  So, if you want to include this in your solution, please do. In doing so, consider whether this would lead to any other issues, such as deadlock or starvation.

October 26, 2008 - 1

Two new assignments have been posted.  Be sure to read them.

October 14, 2008

There will not be a quiz on Wednesday, October 15.

October 13, 2008

The answers to quiz 3 are now posted here.

October 9, 2008

Need a little pocket money this semester?

My name is Emily Linker and I assist Colleen Lindner with the tutorial
program in the ASMSU Office. We are currently looking for students
wanting to tutor CS 160. Maybe a student who is doing well in that class
this semester or an upper level student who you think would be qualified
and willing to tutor. We pay $9/hr and the tutor makes his/her own
schedule, and tutoring is done on an as needed basis. If you have any
students you would be willing to recommend that would be helpful. You
can send students to the ASMSU Office for an application, SUB 221, next
to the Ask Us Desk.

Thank you so much for your time in helping us provide this service for
MSU students.

Best regards,
Emily Linker
Colleen Lindner
994-2933
tutors@montana.edu

October 6, 2008

Answers to quiz 2 can be found here.

There will be a quiz on Wednesday,October 8.  It will focus on three things:

1. code walkthrough as in the previous assignment
2. identification of operating system constructs in the code (e.g., a PCB, etc.)
3. possible general questions about last Wednesday's presentation
4. possible general questions about Monday's (today, October 6) presentation

September 26, 2008

Answers to quiz 1 can be found here.

September 24, 2008

Career Enhancement Opportunity

Craig Delger of InfoGears will lead a discussion about the internet as a
machine for commerce, drawing from his experience at InfoGears. The
meeting will be Thursday, Sept. 25 at 5:00 in the CS conference room(EPS
347)

September 22, 2008

There will be a quiz at the end of class on Wednesday, September 24.  In general, there will be a short quiz every Wednesday at the end of class.  This Wednesday's quiz will cover the instruction fetch and execute cycle and its ties to operating system design.

There is also a new assignment posted.

September 16, 2008

Rocky Ross and Binhai Zhu are tag-team teaching this course.  As of September 15, Rocky will be taking the course for a number of weeks.