MTech (CS/AI) • CS 401 • Monsoon Semester 2026
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.
Process states and tables, system calls, process life cycle and Scheduler, process groups and sessions, simulation of process management module
Signals, pipes, FIFOs and message passing, exercises showing details of the IPC mechanisms
Implement multi-threaded processes using pthreads library, implement classic synchronization problems such as reader-writer problem and write simple applications based on synchronization
Modern virtual memory systems and TLB, page replacement algorithms, stack algorithms and Belady's anomaly, simulation of virtual memory management module
System call interface to files, file systems and disk organisations, file tables, system calls related to files, booting mechanism
Consumable and reusable resources, deadlock detection, prevention and avoidance algorithms, devices, device drivers and implementation of a virtual display panel driver
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 18 Sep | pthreads library | ||
| Week 5: Process Synchronisation (contd.) | 24 Sep | Reader-Writer Problem and variants | |
| 25 Sep | Semaphores and uses |
| 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 |
Video on multithreaded programming | Duration: 14 min |
| Project | Description | Due Date |
|---|---|---|
| Process Mgmt Simulator | Implement a simulator for the process management tasks of an OS. The assignment is found here. | Monday, 28/09/2026 before 6:00 PM. |
Note that AOS Labs will be on alternate Thursdays starting Thursday, 24 September 2026.