Download Curriculum Group Report-F2011

Curriculum Group Name: FOUNDATIONS
Date: September 16, 2011
Members of Group (bold chair): Bobbie, Hung, Jung, Lo, Dasigi, Qian, Karam
Courses reviewed in this group (list all with number and name):
CS 3243 – Operating Systems
CS 3693 – Applications Programming
CS 4243 – Systems Programming
CS 4283 – Real Time Systems
For each course, give a brief synopsis of the state of the course over the previous year. Note any major
structural changes to the course and the reasons for the changes. Note any major changes in the future
direction of the course.
CS 3243 – Operating Systems
Fall 2010’s course project focused only on Scheduling implementation in the OS simulation. After
that term, project has focused on the broader OS concepts, including Multiprocessor Scheduling,
Memory Management, and Process Synchronization. Unix/Linux concepts are covered now. No
major structural changes or future changes are suggested. There is a suggestion in fall 2010
FCAR regarding the broader or flexibility in the choice of programming language for
implementing the project; and the lack of specificity in the mastery of synchronization
primitives. The offerings of the course in other terms, however, include mastery of
synchronization primitives through the project implementation; and also students had a choice
of programming language, e.g., C, C++, Java, C#, for implementing the project.
CS 3693 – Applications Programming
No assessment data available for this period of evaluation
CS 4243 – Systems Programming
The course objectives were met and the assessment instruments adequately measured the outcomes.
Course Description Recommendations – This course covers command line, scripting and lowlevel (C language) system interfaces for Unix. It covers basic commands, shell and other scripting
languages as appropriate; and low-level POSIX interfaces in C, including file I/O, process control,
inter-process communication, networking and threads.
CS 4283 – Real Time Systems
Recommendation for course learning outcomes – By the end of the course, students should be able
to:
1. Explain the basic real-time concepts (e.g., determinism vs. non-determinism,
hard/soft/firm response times) and describe the main differences between real-time
systems and non-real-time systems,
2. Demonstrate understanding of not only the underlying components (i.e., Hardware,
Operating Systems , Programming Languages, and Software Designs) but also their
implications of using those components on building a real-time system,
3. Demonstrate understanding of the fundamental theory (e.g., real-time scheduling
algorithms) of real-time systems,
4. Analyze non-functional requirements (e.g., analysis of response time, faulttolerance) of real-time systems.
Considering all the courses, how are they impacting the objectives and outcomes of the programs the
courses support (you may need to address each program separately). Do the courses adequately meet
the needs of the program? Are there any suggestions for improvement in the overall group of courses
(courses to be added, deleted)? Are topics being duplicated unnecessarily? Are topics being ignored or
only minimally covered?
CS 3243:
Thus far, all the courses have significant impact on the program since they are either foundational (i.e.,
CS 3243) or integrative (CS 3693, CS 4243, and CS4283) and relevant to the degrees offered to students.
Any suggestions for improvement or currency are articulated in the above. No duplications were found
and the contents offered to student are currently adequate or appropriate.
CS 32693:
No data available
CS 4243:
Course Outcomes Recommendations –
1. Describe Unix commands and create basic shell scripts.
2. Demonstrate knowledge of and ability to use low-level Unix APIs.
3. Create simple programs in one or more scripting languages like Perl, Python or others.
Textbook change – Recommendation – Beginning Linux Programming ISBN-10: 0470147628
Focus of course recommendation – Course focused more on commands than low-level API. We
recommend going back.
CS 4283:
The course objectives were met and the assessment indicated that the course had positive impact on
the students.
Overall recommendations from curriculum group including how any future changes should be assessed:
See the above.