CS 425: Computer System Design

Introduction

CS 425 aims at building large scale systems, both hardware and software. Connecting the various dots that you learnt till your third year, this course will provide a bird's eye view of designing and evaluating large systems. You will learn design philosophies of a variety of computer hardware and software systems and appreciate the complex interactions between sub-systems. The process of building a system has the following typical phases : Specification, design, implementation, testing and subsequent maintenance. This course will take you through this process for different kinds of systems and analyze the philosophy behind them.

The companion lab CS 429 will teach you how to put the theory you learnt in CS 425 into practice. top

Logistics

Course Instructor

Shankar Balachandran :: BSB 349

TAs

To be decided.

Course Timings

The class will meet in the B-slot, 4 times a week. The companion lab CS 429 will meet in the P Slot.

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Policies

• All classes will be conducted as per the institute regulations.
• All students must have Unix computer accounts. Extensive computer work will be required for programming assignments.
• Homework assignments will be assigned regularly once every 6-8 classes.
• Students can discuss problems but copying is strictly prohibited. All assignments must be individual works unless stated explicitly by the instructor. Cheating in assignments/exams/projects will be dealt with very seriously.
• Assignments are due in the first 30 minutes of the class after which it is considered late. Students can turn in homeworks within a day after that for 75% credit. Submissions later than that get 0 credit.
• Assignments will be graded within a week. Graded work must be disputed within 10 days after it is returned to the students.
• Special requests must be made well ahead of time. Explicit permission of the instructor will be required for such cases.
• Regular attendance is recommended. Quizzes will not be given again. Consult the class web page frequently for new announcements.

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References

The class notes are available in the ::Notes:: section. Links to software manuals, free and shareware software tools that are useful for the coursework and all reference books are listed in the ::Resources:: section.