Advanced Operating Systems

MTech (CS/AI) • CS 401 • Monsoon Semester 2026

Please check the Assignments Section. It is updated today (28 Oct 2026) with Assignment - II..

Course Syllabus

An in-depth study of modern operating system principles with a focus on hands-on programming to reinforce the concepts learnt in UG classes. Study in depth some of the important topics such as interprocess communication, virtual memory and resource management through simulations and practical exercises.

Main Topics

1: Processes and their Simulation

Process states and tables, system calls, process life cycle and Scheduler, process groups and sessions, simulation of process management module

2: Interprocess Communication

Signals, pipes, FIFOs and message passing, exercises showing details of the IPC mechanisms

3: Threads and Synchronisation

Implement multi-threaded processes using pthreads library, implement classic synchronization problems such as reader-writer problem and write simple applications based on synchronization

4: Memory Management

Modern virtual memory systems and TLB, page replacement algorithms, stack algorithms and Belady's anomaly, simulation of virtual memory management module

5: Files and File Systems

System call interface to files, file systems and disk organisations, file tables, system calls related to files, booting mechanism

6: I/O, Devices and Resource Management

Consumable and reusable resources, deadlock detection, prevention and avoidance algorithms, devices, device drivers and implementation of a virtual display panel driver

Class Schedule

Week	Date	Topic	Reading Materials
Week 1: Process Management	21 Aug	Recap of Processes
	27 Aug	Process-related System Calls
	28 Aug	Run time process structures
Week 2: Interprocess Communication	03 Sep	Signals and related system calls	APUE: Ch 10.1 – 10.5
Week 2: Interprocess Communication	04 Sep	Modern signals and their use	APUE: Ch 10.11 – 10.14
Week 3: Interprocess Communication (contd).	10 Sep	Pipes and related system calls	APUE: Ch 15.1 – 15.5
Week 3: Interprocess Communication (contd).	11 Sep	FIFOs and examples	APUE: Ch 15.5
Assignment - I	17 Sep	Implementing a process simulator (Due: 28 Sep)	Details
Week 4: Process Synchronisation	17 Sep	Competition vs Cooperation	OS Book: Ch 7
Week 4: Process Synchronisation	18 Sep	`pthreads` library
Week 5: Process Synchronisation (contd.)	24 Sep	Reader-Writer Problem and variants
Week 5: Process Synchronisation (contd.)	25 Sep	Semaphores and uses
Week 6: Holidays	01 Oct	Convocation: No Class
Week 6: Holidays	02 Oct	Gandhi Jayanti: No Class
Week 7: Virtual Memory	08 Oct	Basics of Virtual Memory (Recap of UG course)	OS Book: Ch 11
Week 7: Virtual Memory	09 Oct	OS Policies and Page Replacement Algorithms	Operating Systems: Advanced Concepts Ch 5
Week 8: Virtual Memory (contd.)	15 Oct	Page Fault Rates and Stack Algorithms	OS Book: Ch 11
Week 8: Virtual Memory (contd.)	16 Oct	Why stack algorithms do not suffer from Belady's anomaly	Operating Systems: Advanced Concepts Ch 5
Week 9: File Systems, File System Management and Booting an OS	22 Oct	Working Sets and Clock Algorithms (End of VM)	Operating Systems: Advanced Concepts Ch 5
	23 Oct	Files and File Systems	OS Book: Ch 16, 17
Assignment - II	28 Oct	Exploring Page Replacement Algorithms (Due: 10 Nov)	Details
Week 10: File Systems, File System Management and Booting an OS	29 Oct	File-related Data Structures in the OS	OS Book: Ch 16
	30 Oct	Booting an OS	Extra Materials

Class Notes & Materials

Lecture	Programs and Code Stubs	Supplementary Reading
03 Sep: Interprocess Communication Mechanisms: An Overview	A class video from the horrible days of 2020-2021	Duration: 15 minutes
04 Sep: Modern signals and their use	Signals program from the class	Experiment ... play with it!
10 Sep: Additional material on login processes	Video explaining different login processes	Duration: 20 minutes. Try the experiments suggested in the video.
11 Sep: Example code on pipes	Basic pipe between processes Setting up a pipe across `execlp()` Use of `popen()` function	Basic pipes (12min) Pipe across `execlp` (4min) `popen()` (9min)
18 Sep: Writing multithreaded programs using `pthread` library	Code of the multithreaded program discussed in class	Video on multithreaded programming
25 Sep: Using `mutex`es and `condition variables`	Multiple Writers-Single Reader problem (v1) Multiple Writers-Single Reader problem (v2)	Video on Multiple-Writers Single-Reader problem (v2) (13 min)
16 Oct: Stack Algorithms	Material on Stack Algorithms	From Operating Systems: Advanced Concepts
17 Oct: Working Sets	Material on Working Sets	From Operating Systems: Advanced Concepts

Assignments & Projects

Project	Description	Due Date
Process Mgmt Simulator	Implement a simulator for the process management tasks of an OS. The assignment is found here (updated 25 Sep).	Monday, 28/09/2026 before 6:00 PM.
Virtual Memory Management	Assignment - II	Tuesday, 10/11/2026 before 6:00 PM.

Enrolled Students

M. Tech (AI)

M. Tech (CS)

Lab Sessions

Note that AOS Labs will be on alternate Thursdays starting Thursday, 24 September 2026.

Lab - 1 (10 September 2026)
Lab - 2 (24 September 2026) Download the file - it is a jupyter notebook. Do the tasks given there.
Lab - 3 (08 October 2026)
Lab - 4 (22 October 2026) This is a HTML file containing a link to the Python Notebook that you need for the lab. Download the notebook and work with it.

External References & Video Lectures

Operating Systems: A Design-Oriented Approach by Charles Crowley
Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces (Free Online Textbook)
Operating Systems: Advanced Concepts by Maekawa, Oldehoeft, Oldehoeft, Benjamin Cummings, 1987.