Computer Systems and Networks 2 (2com0060), 2007-8
Module homepage

IMPORTANT, referred coursework assessment notice:

The assessment will be a two hour test on Thursday, 19th June 2008, at 1400 hours, in room 1F381. The test will be about making changes to a network program, you must prepare your changes in advance. The description of the referred coursework, details of the required changes to the program and example test questions are in the PDF file: csn2-cw-07-08-ref.pdf, and the program you must make the changes to is: ref-prog-07-08-2.cpp.

This course is about the principles and implementation of the software systems that are present in the operating systems of all workstations or servers. In other words it is about the networking code, the file systems, the process scheduling, the memory management, the compilers etc. All these bits of software are essential to the operation of a workstation. They are different usually thought of as different from application sofware: word processors, games, spread sheets which might or might be present in a system.

Very often the topics of networking, operating systems and compilers are treated as separate topics, they are described in separate textbooks. For that reason it is hard to recommend any one book (or even two books) that cover all these topics. Instead there will be course notes issued during the module and made available online.

These are the links to the main sections:

• Sample OMR test, there is a multiple choice OMR test in the lecture slot at 1300 on Thursday 18th October 2007, this is a sample test, different questions but similar topics

  BEWARE ERRORS: the version posted here had an error in questions 1 and 2, it has now been corrected (I hope there aren't too many errors in the real test).

  Answers (maybe?): 1:b, 2:c, 3:d, 4:d, 5:c, 6:b, 7:a, 8:b, 9:c, 10:c, 11:a, 12:d, 13:c, 14:b, 15:d (NB. don't count on ``e'' never being right in the real test!)
• Module information, the standard stuff: hours, teaching plan, tutors, assessment weighting etc.
• CSN2 course notes in PDF, CSN2 course notes in HTML, the main teaching notes. These have been updated in October 2007 but need more work, some later sections need rewriting including changes to the later material on the WWW to reflect the new introductory chapter. Also the HTML version of the new material at the beginning has bad sizing of pictures.
• assorted course material, teaching notes, handouts, practical sheets etc.
  In addition there are some networking notes here http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~comqrgd
• downloads, programs, documents etc.
• exam papers, old examination papers,