Computing platforms

• Computer and Internet -course or similar knowledge
• Introduction to Programming  and Advanced course in Programming  (Python) or similar knowledge

Strongly recommended to have also

• Data Structures and Algorithms 1 or similar knowledge

After the course you can

• describe different computing platforms and select a suitable platform for a given problem
• explain the structure and functionalities of a single computer platform (operating system)
  
• explain the structure and functionalities of a computing platform composed of multiple computers (virtual machines, containers, cloud)
• describe how operating system manages and controls processes and threads, as well as, how it schedules them
• analyze advantages and disadvantages of different scheduling mechanisms
• justify the need for concurrency control
• use locks to solve simple concurrency problems 
  
• recognize the challenges of inter-process communication and describe different alternatives for solving them (synchronous, asynchronous, shared memory, message passing)
  
• describe the general principles of virtual machine implementations
• explain the features and key elements of a file system
• recognize the challenges related to security in computing platforms

Online material, material distributed at course, material found in the internet.

Student should have access to a course book about operating systems, for example

• Stallings, Operating Systems - Internals and Design Principles, 9th ed, Pearson 2018
• Arpaci-Dusseau and Arpaci-Dusseau. Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces, 2018 (Version 1.00)

Completion methods

Participation in teaching or general examination.

Teaching course contains lectures and/or videos, self-study modules/exercises and writing tasks.

Course organised via the Open university might differentiate from this description.

Assessment practice and criteria

Assessment is based on the solved problems and active participation in weekly exercise sessions, other possibly optional tasks, and the course exam. 

Course can be also done by a general examination, in which case the grade is based on the exam only. 

Course grading scale is 0-5.

Activities and methods in support of learning 

Lectures, independent study and working with exercise problems, small group discussions during exercise sessions, exam 

Target groups

Compulsory subject-level course in the Bachelor programme of Computer Science and Computer and Data Science study track in the Bachelor Programme in Science. 

Compulsory course for all students doing the subject-level module of Computer Science.

Course is available for all degree students, exchange students, and students of open university. 

Teaching period when the course will be offered 

One period course offered every Spring in period III.

Recommended time or stage of studies for completion

Recommended to be done during second study year in the Bachelor Programme of Computer Science and in the Bachelor Programme of Science.

Study module

Subject module of Computer Science

Language of instruction

Course is given in English. Some of the parallel exercise groups might be given in Finnish. All material is in English.