CISC 7310X Operating Systems I (Section R6)

Fall 2026 (08/28/2026 – 12/21/2026)

by Associate Professor Hui Chen, CUNY Brooklyn College

Table of Content

Instructor

Associate Professor Hui Chen, Ph.D.
Office: Room 1432N Ingersoll Hall (No appointment is necessary during office hours.)
Phone: 718-951-5000 x2055

Office Hours and Contact

Office Hours: 2:00 - 3:00, Wednesday

Office Hours Access:

E-mail: hui.chen@brooklyn.cuny.edu
E-mail Policy: When e-mailing the instructor, include your name and course section in the subject. The instructor will generally reply your message before next class meeting.

Class Meetings

Class Meeting: 06:05-8:10 PM Wednesday;
Class Meeting Method: In-Person
Classroom: Room 3143 Ingersoll Hall

In-Person Class Meeting

The College designates this class as a in-person class in this semester, i.e., we shall convene class meetings including all exams and tests at the designated times and at the designated classroom.

Course Description

37.5 hours plus conference and independent work

3 credits

Organization and programming of executive control systems. Batch processing, multiprogramming, multiprocessing, and time-sharing systems. File system organization and management. Access and protection control. Resource allocation. Control systems languages. Mathematical models of computer systems. This course requires a substantial amount of programming. (Not open to students who have completed CIS 7300X [703X] or a course in operating systems.)

Prerequisite: Computer and Information Science 6006X [622X] or a course in data structures; and Computer and Information Science 6007X [627X] or an undergraduate course in computer organization.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students should be able

  1. to gain an understanding of interactions between software and hardware including those between operating systems and hardware, and those between applications and operating systems;

  2. to gain familiarity with major issues in the design and implementation of modern operating systems and essential algorithms and data structures to deal with the issues;

  3. to gain system programming experience and familiarity with the solutions to some issues in large applications design, such as, concurrency and resource management; and

  4. to be able to identify and familiar some problems in current systems research,

  5. to have exposure in system research skills, methods, and tools, and

  6. to leverage generative AI as a learning partner.

Topics Covered

The following topics are to be covered.

  1. Overview of Operating Systems (OS) (Chapter 1)

  2. OS Structures (Chapter 2)

  3. Processes (Chapter 3)

  4. Threads and Concurrency (Chapter 4)

  5. CPU Scheduling (Chapter 5)

  6. Synchronization and Deadlocks (Chapters 6, 7, and 8)

  7. Main Memory and Virtual Memory Management (Chapters 9 and 10)

  8. I/O Systems (Chapter 12)

  9. File System Interface and Implementation (Chapters 13 and 14)

  10. Selected Topics (from Chapter 13, 15, and 16)

Textbook

  1. Silberschatz, A., Gagne, G., & Galvin, P. B. (2018). Operating system concepts. Wiley.

Academic Regulations and Procedures

All students should carefully and thoroughly read the section entitled Academic Regulations and Procedures in the Brooklyn College Undergraduate or Graduate Bulletin for a complete listing of academic regulations of the College.

Academic Integrity

The faculty and administration of Brooklyn College support an environment free from cheating and plagiarism. Each student is responsible for being aware of what constitutes cheating and plagiarism and for avoiding both. The complete text of the CUNY Academic Integrity Policy can be found at www.brooklyn.edu/policies. If a faculty member suspects a violation of academic integrity and, upon investigation, confirms that violation, or if the student admits the violation, the faculty member MUST report the violation. Students should be aware that faculty may use plagiarism detection software.

Student Disability Services

The Center for Student Disability Services (CSDS) is committed to ensuring students with disabilities enjoy an equal opportunity to participate at Brooklyn College. In order to receive disability-related academic accommodations students must first be registered with the Center for Student Disability Services (CSDS). Students who have a documented disability or suspect they may have a disability (physical or mental condition which substantially limits one or more major life activity) are invited to call the Center at (718) 951- 5538 or visit us in 138 Roosevelt Hall. If you have already registered with the CSDS and submitted necessary forms, you will receive your course accommodation letter to provide to your professor and these specific accommodations can be discussed when appropriate.

Consideration of Religious Observance

New York State Education Law (Title I, Article 5, Section 224-a) requires that the College

makes available to each student who is absent from school, because of his [or her] religious beliefs, an equivalent opportunity to make up any examination, study or work requirements which he [or she] may have missed because of such absence on any particular day or days.

If you are unable to attend classes or take examinations, the instructor is happy to accommodate you as permitted by semester schedule and other constraints there may be; however, it is recommended that you make arrangement with the instructor in advance. You may also contact Division of Student Affairs , if you have questions about accommodations for religious observance.

Policy and Software for Online Exam Proctoring

CUNY procured online proctoring software for hosting online exams. In case that we must have online exams, the instructor may elect to proctor the exams via the online protoring software. A design objective of online proctoring software is to improve online exam security. However, to learn how it may affect you, you should take a look at some online proctoring software, such as, Respondus Monitor and Proctortrack.

Important Dates

The College’s Academic Calendar lists a few important dates. Below are some of these important dates. Be aware that the College may revise the Academic Calendar as we are in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Important Dates

Date Description
Friday, August 28 First day of Fall classes
Monday, September 7 College Closed
Friday, September 11 thru Sunday, September 13 No Classes Scheduled (College Open)
Monday, September 21 No Classes Scheduled
Monday, October 12 College Closed
Tuesday, October 13 Conversion Day. Classes follow a Monday schedule
Monday, November 2 Black Solidarity Day*
Friday, November 6 Last day to withdraw from a course with a “W” grade
Sunday, November 8 No Classes Scheduled (College Open)
Wednesday, November 25 No Classes Scheduled (College Open)
Thursday, November 26 and Friday, November 27 College Closed
Saturday, November 28 No Classes Scheduled (College Open)
Monday, December 14 Last Day of Undergraduate Classes
Tuesday, December 15 Final Exams Begin
Monday, December 21 Final Exams End / End of Fall Semeste

For the complete College calendar, check out the Fall 2026 Academic Calender, Brooklyn College.

Attendance and Partcipation

You are required to attend the lectures. Unless prearrangement is made with and approved by the instructor, or is permitted by Federal and State laws and regulations and the policies of of the College.

Reference to the state law regarding non-attendance because of religious beliefs is in the Undergraduate or Graduate Bulletin.

Student receives credit for attendance and participation in lectures. At each class meeting, the instructor will conduct an attendance roll-call or ask the students to sign an attendance sheet. In addition, there are required in-class exercises and discussion. For the in-class exercises and discussions, see the section of Assignments and Examinations for details.

Late Attendance

Students should join the class meetings on time. A late attendance may be recorded as absence from the class.

Use of Generative AI

Generative AI and the Course

The instructor encourages students to leverage generative AI to advance their learning. However, for each individual assignment, unless stated otherwise, the students shall disclose the way the generative AI is used for each assignment. Generative AI tools referenced in this document include web-based chatbots (such as ChatGPT), agentic code tools (such as, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot), and AI-based tools (such as, Google Websearch, Grammarly).

Students are expected to study two generate AI use policy: ACM and IEEE

Assignments and Examinations

Homework Assignments/In-class Activitites/Quizzes

These are small assignments that you complete at home, in class, or online.

Projects and Presentations

Projects are large assignments. These can be group or individual assgnments, and often requires in-class presentation.

Midterm and Final Examinations

The instructor will give two exams, a Midterm Exam and a Final Exam. Refer to the course schedule for the time, the date, and the location of the Midterm and the Final Exams. Be aware that it is Brooklyn College Registration determines the time, the date, and the date of the Final Exam. In this semester, as the College designates this class as a Synchronous Online class, the instructor will proctor the exams online as the designated date and time by the College.

To protect the integrity of the exams, the instructor requires the students to turn on their Web cameras during the exams and the instructor will record the exams for a later analysis if there is a need.

Assignment Submission

The instructor adopts the GitHub Classroom and CUNY Brightspace to manage selected

Late Submission

Late submissions are accepted, but penalized with 10% of penalty or one letter grade lower each day late. For instance, if a team submits a project one day late, the grade of the project will be lowered from A to B, B to C, and so on. In addition, a student will receive 0 on a submission of 5 or more days late.

Grade Calculation

Students final score is calculated on the scale of 100 as follows,

Grading Components and Grade Calculation

Component Percent Note
Attendance 5%  
Homework Assignments/In-Class Activitities and Quizzes 5% 5 best assignments, 1 points each.
Projects, Presentations, and Research Papers 40% Projects, presentatinos, and Research papers are 40 points.
Midterm Exam 20%  
Final Exam 30% Final exam is cumulative

Letter Grade

Your final letter grade will be given as follows:

Letter Grade Assignment

Component Percent
90 - 100 A
80 - 89 B
70 - 79 C
60 - 69 D
0 - 59 F

Instructional Technologies

The instructor posts syllabus, course schedule, and lecture notes on the Class Website, and posts assignments, assignment grades, and advisory grades on CUNY Blackboard.

Support and Resources