415.340 assignment 1 - extra bits.



X-Sender: alan@staffpop.cs.auckland.ac.nz
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 14:21:37 +1300
To: class415.340sc@cs.auckland.ac.nz, class415.340st@cs.auckland.ac.nz,
        robert-s@cs.auckland.ac.nz, alan@cs.auckland.ac.nz
From: alan@cs.auckland.ac.nz (Alan Creak)
Subject: Addendum to 415.340 assignment 1.

In discussing the assignment with one of you, I noticed that I'd missed a
bit out of the assignment. I didn't tell you what to call the files.
Therefore, there should be an amendment to part ( a ) of the assignment :

Instead of :

===============================================
1 :     Copy the files to a conventional GUI system ( Macintosh preferred,
but reasonable equivalent acceptable ), and perform the task by hand. Write
down a set of instructions which someone could follow to repeat the task
beginning with a different set of files with the same format.

2 :     Copy the files to a Unix system ( C shell preferred, but reasonable
equivalent acceptable ), and write a shell script called "summary" which
will carry out the task automatically on being started with the instruction
"summary course*".
===============================================

you should have :

===============================================
1 :     Copy the files to a conventional GUI system ( Macintosh preferred,
but reasonable equivalent acceptable ) with the names course333, course340,
and course350, and perform the task by hand. Write down a set of
instructions which someone could follow to repeat the task beginning with a
different set of files with the same format.

2 :     Copy the files to a Unix system ( C shell preferred, but reasonable
equivalent acceptable ) with the names course333, course340, and course350,
and write a shell script called "summary" which will carry out the task
automatically on being started with the instruction "summary course*".
===============================================

( I am assuming that you'll assign names to files in the sensible way ! )

Also, in part ( b ) :

Instead of :

===============================================
... suppose that the 333, 340, and 350 files had been called FP, OS, and MF
respectively ...
===============================================

you should have :

===============================================
... suppose that the 333, 340, and 350 files had been called courseFP,
courseOS, and courseMF respectively ...
===============================================

( Thanks to another course member who arrived while I was typing the first
part for pointing out the second part. )




X-Sender: alan@staffpop.cs.auckland.ac.nz
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 11:59:11 +1300
To: class415.340sc@cs.auckland.ac.nz, class415.340st@cs.auckland.ac.nz,
        robert-s@cs.auckland.ac.nz, alan@cs.auckland.ac.nz
From: alan@cs.auckland.ac.nz (Alan Creak)
Subject: Re: Question on Ass1 of 340

I have recently received this question, several times from different people :

>In this assignment, you asked us to copy the files to a conventional GUI
>system or a Unix system.  Could you please tell us which folder (or
>directory) the files existed previously ......


I took some trouble to explain this at a recent lecture.

All  the material you need can be reached from
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~alan/courses/os/osassign.htm as pdf files;
you can copy from there and paste into whatever's convenient for you.


Please don't ask me again.

And please try to use a little initiative and work things out for yourself.
You are stage 3 undergraduates ( or something more or less equivalent );
that means that you're among the intellectual elite of the country, and (
because it's stage 3 in the Computer Science department ) experts on using
computers.

That's what I think, anyway. Please don't disillusion me.




X-Sender: alan@staffpop.cs.auckland.ac.nz
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 16:36:56 +1300
To: class415.340sc@cs.auckland.ac.nz, class415.340st@cs.auckland.ac.nz,
        robert-s@cs.auckland.ac.nz, alan@cs.auckland.ac.nz
From: alan@cs.auckland.ac.nz (Alan Creak)
Subject: More Acrobat woes.

It has been brought to my notice that copying and pasting from Acrobat
reader to editors, etc., doesn't copy the blank lines, and sometimes
doesn't copy the ends of lines not followed by blank lines.

1 : The blank lines aren't important; provided that the other ends-of-lines
are there, the problem isn't changed.

2 : If you lost the ends of lines immediately following the field markers (
for example, if one of your lines looks like this :

|!|number!| 415.333

) then you can replace "!| " by "!|^p", and you should get an acceptable
file. ( "^p" means end-of-line - that works for Word, but substitute
whatever's appropriate if you're using other software. )




X-Sender: alan@staffpop.cs.auckland.ac.nz
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 09:24:15 +1300
To: class415.340sc@cs.auckland.ac.nz, class415.340st@cs.auckland.ac.nz,
        robert-s@cs.auckland.ac.nz, alan@cs.auckland.ac.nz
From: alan@cs.auckland.ac.nz (Alan Creak)
Subject: 415.340 assignment 1 : submission.
Cc: msan001@cs.auckland.ac.nz, ctsa005@cs.auckland.ac.nz,
        igoo001@cs.auckland.ac.nz, wwan004@cs.auckland.ac.nz

Dear happy 340 student ( or select your own adjective to suit ) :

It is nearly time to submit your 340 assignment. The official deadline is
August 21st, which is Friday.

All submission will be by electronic means. If you are working from the
department laboratories in the city, you can use the usual dropbox
facilities; if you are at Tamaki, or elsewhere, you can use the www dropbox
interface at http://data.cs.auckland.ac.nz/dropbox/. Look at that page to
find out what to do.

The material to be submitted is defined on the assignment sheet. Please
distinguish your six parts to the submission clearly - send separate files
( appropriately named ! ) or put clear headings within documents if you
want to combine them together.




X-Sender: alan@staffpop.cs.auckland.ac.nz
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 11:05:01 +1300
To: class415.340sc@cs.auckland.ac.nz, class415.340st@cs.auckland.ac.nz,
        robert-s@cs.auckland.ac.nz, alan@cs.auckland.ac.nz
From: alan@cs.auckland.ac.nz (Alan Creak)
Subject: Notes, and the course files for the 340 assignment.
Cc: alan@cs.auckland.ac.nz

QUESTION : Is it necessary to remove spaces from the ends of lines before
making the summary file ?

ANSWER : The space isn't important; you can assume that you can just take
the whole line from the course file in all cases.

========================


MESSAGE RECEIVED : "Hi, I was trying out the new submission dropbox and
"accidentally" pressed the "submit assignment" button. THIS  IS NOT MY
SUBMISSION for my assigmnet one. Please ignore this submission. Thanks."

REPLY : Everyone makes mistakes ! I'll pass the message on to the markers,
but the safe thing to do is to submit an explanation in another file called
( for example ) README so that the marker will certainly get the message in
the right context.

But if you submit 233 submissions and 227 READMEs we won't be impressed.

=========================


Someone wrote -

>A suggestion, how about providing us with the Unix files instead of copying
>and pasting from Acrobat PDF ?

My intention in providing the pdf versions of the files was to make access
equally easy for everyone. I can assume that everyone can use mail and www,
and also ( but obviously less justifiably ) did assume that Adobe Acrobat
was equally available.

So here are the files.

NOTE : the lines with the number and "===========================" are not
supposed to be part of the files; they're just to mark the boundaries.




415.333 =====================================================
|!|number!|
415.333

|!|title!|
Functional Programming and Language Implementation

|!|prerequisites!|
415.212 and 415.233

|!|restrictions!|
415.360, 415.330, 415.733

|!|examination!|
70%

|!|tests!|
0%

|!|assignments!|
30%

|!|where!|
Tamaki

|!|when!|
First Semester

|!|lecturers!|
Dr S. Manoharan (50%)
Dr John Hosking (Supervisor) (50%)

|!|texts required!|
Aho, Sethi, Ullman. Compilers - Principles, Techniques, and Tools, Addison
Wesley.
Simon Thompson. Haskell: The Craft of Functional Programming, Addison Wesley.

|!|description!|

This paper provides an introduction to language implementation and studies
an alternative style of programming in the form of a modern functional
language.

|!|contents!|

An overview of the process of compilation and interpretation of computer
languages. Lexical analysis. Use of lex, a lexical analyzer generator.
Syntax analysis. Use of yacc, a parser generator. Functional programming.
Types and polymorphism. Lists. Higher-order functions. Recursion and
induction. Strictness versus laziness. Infinite lists.

415.340 =====================================================
|!|number!|
415.340

|!|title!|
Operating Systems

|!|prerequisites!|
(415.210 or 415.212) and (415.231 or 415.233) and (415.232 or 415.234)

|!|restrictions!|
415.341

|!|examination!|
70%

|!|tests!|
10 %

|!|assignments!|
20%

|!|where!|
City and Tamaki

|!|when!|
Second semester, 3 lectures per week

|!|lecturers!|
Dr Alan Creak (supervisor) (50%)
Robert Sheehan (50%)

|!|texts required!|
A. Silberschatz and P.B. Galvin, Operating Systems Concepts (4th or 5th
Edition) (Addison-Wesley).

|!|description!|

A computer's operating system is the collection of software which deals
with the essential organisational tasks which must be carried out if the
machine is to deliver services to people who need them. Its
responsibilities range from dealing with the people who use the system, to
moment-by-moment allocation of resources, to managing different activities
in progress. The paper describes the functions which the operating system
must perform, and critically examines ways in which these requirements can
be satisfied.

|!|contents!|

Why we need operating systems, and how they have developed. Making the
system usable: the computer-human interface. Making the system safe:
protection, security. Managing data: memory management, file management.
Managing computing: processes, processor management, concurrent processes.
Making the system work: driving devices, scheduling.

415.350 =====================================================
|!|number!|
415.350

|!|title!|
Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science

|!|prerequisites!|
415.105 and (445.225 or 280.201). Students with a low grade in 445.225 are
strongly discouraged from enrolling.

|!|examination!|
70%

|!|tests!|
10%

|!|assignments!|
20%

|!|where!|
City

|!|when!|
First semester

|!|lecturers!|
Professor Cristian S. Calude (supervisor) (33%)
Dr Bakh Khoussainov (33%)
Assoc Prof Fred Kroon (Philosophy) (33%)

|!|texts required!|
M. Sipser. Introduction to the Theory of Computation, PWS Publishing Comp.,
Boston, 1997.

|!|texts recommended!|
B. Khoussainov, A. Nerode. Automata and Transition Structures, Birkhauser,
Boston, in preparation.

|!|description!|

The aim of this paper is to present mathematical models for computers and
computation, and derive results about what can and cannot be computed. It
deals with idealised computers (automata) which operate on idealised input
and output (formal languages). For example, we prove that it is impossible
to write a computer program that takes as input any computer program and
tells us whether or not that program will end up in an endless loop (the
halting problem). Non-standard models of computation, as DNA and quantum
paradigms, will also be briefly described. Familiarity with abstract
mathematics is assumed.

|!|contents!|

Regular languages and finite automata. Tree automata. Context-free
grammars. Computable functions. Computations on infinite objects. DNA and
quantum computing.


End of normal examples ================================================

---------------------------------------

THE ALTERNATIVE 340 FILE.

415.340 alternative =================================================

Thanks, that looks good. Just add "or fifth edition, 1998" to the
recommended book.

End of example =====================================================





X-Sender: alan@staffpop.cs.auckland.ac.nz
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1998 16:28:09 +1300
To: class415.340sc@cs.auckland.ac.nz, class415.340st@cs.auckland.ac.nz,
        robert-s@cs.auckland.ac.nz, alan@cs.auckland.ac.nz
From: alan@cs.auckland.ac.nz (Alan Creak)
Subject: Typing error in the 415.340 assignment sheet.

In the specification for submission 5, the assignment sheet says :

"SUBMISSION 5 :  The summary files you get from the shell script written in
( a ) ...."

The "files" is a mistake. The line should say :

"SUBMISSION 5 :  The summary file you get from the shell script written in
( a ) ...."

Apologies.



Alan Creak,
August, 1998.


Go to Alan;
Go to Robert;
Go to the 340 course page;
Go to Computer Science.