Systems Programming - Spring 2018

Schedule

• Feb 21: Introduction to the Course: syllabus; what is systems programming; why it is useful to know the C programming language; getting started: a very first example; using the compiler; a very simple Makefile.
  Material: slides used in class
• Feb 23: Basic types, literals, minimal I/O, basic expressions, control structures.
• Mar 1: Pointers, arrays, and strings, basic use of pointers (e.g., in string processing); more I/O.
  Material: findword.c, findword2.c, findword3.c, lecture slides/notes
• Mar 8: Structure of a program; the main function; defining functions; static variables; global variables; scope rules;
  Material: reverse.h, reverse_array.c, reverse.c, reverse_list.c, reverse_both.c, reverse.mk (Makefile), lecture slides/notes
• Mar 14: More details on the build process; the pre-processor; multi-file projects; compilation units; symbols; shared declarations; the pre-processor; the linkers; modularization and information hiding in C.
  Material: lecture slides/notes
• Mar 16: Aggregate types; structures and unions; enumerations; type definitions; initializers for structures and arrays; nested structures, multidimensional arrays, and other non-trivial types.
  Material: dictionary.h, dict.c, querydict.c, querydict.mk (Makefile), lecture slides/notes
• Mar 21: More on using pointers; other dynamic data structures; pointer arithmetic. Pointers and structures, pointers and arrays. Pointers to functions.
  Material: printargs.c, insertionsort.c, quicksort.c, printargs.c, funcptr.c, vararray.h, lecture slides/notes
• Mar 23: Exercises: variable-length arrays.
  Material: vararray.h, vararray.h (partial)
• Mar 28: Exercises from previous exams.
  Material: rec_io.h, rec_io.c (partial), test_rec_io1.c, test_rec_io2.c
• Apr 13: An in-depth look at expressions and the execution model: operator precedence; type conversions; the assignment statement; the execution model: evaluation order; sequence points.
  Material: lecture notes
• Apr 18: Defining classes and objects in C. Using pointers to functions: generic objects and virtual methods.
  Material: lecture notes
• Apr 27: Exercise from previous exams.
  Material: pixmap.h, packed_pixmap.h, ascii_pixmap.h, test_pixmap.c, Makefile, pixmap_impl.c, ascii_pixmap.c, packed_pixmap.c, pixmap_impl.h, all in one package
• May 4: Introduction to C++: classes, exceptions, namespaces.
  Material: lecture notes, pixmap.cc, constructors.cc, destructor.cc
• May 16: Introduction to C++: standard library: strings, containers, basic algorithms.
  Material: lecture notes,
• May 18: Introduction to C++ and exercises.
  Material: routing.cc,
• May 23: Exercises with C++.
  Material: trip.cc
• May 25: Exercises with C++.
  Material: stats.cc, sortlines.cc
• May 30: Exercises with C++.
  Material: graph.cc
• TBD: Overview of the C standard library: basic string/character manipulation; File I/O; File-system operations; dynamic memory allocation and management; simple dynamic array.
• TBD: Multi-threading: Threads, mutexes, locks, monitors, atomic operations.
• TBD: Using make, from a simple project to complex activities.
• TBD: Example of a special-purpose platform: GPU programming using OpenCL.
• TBD: GPU programming: examples.
• TBD: GPU programming: examples.
• TBD: Debugging C programs with a symbolic debugger
• TBD: Other POSIX system operations;
• TBD: Example of a special-purpose application: a Database system;