Concurrency Experiments in a UNIX Environment

分布式计算是计算机科学许多领域的一个重要方面，包括体系结构、操作系统、编程语言、数据库管理、算法和人工智能。本科生通常在学习进程控制和并发性的过程中，在操作系统课程中学习这门课程。然而，在一学期的课程中，缺乏让学生对这些概念有实践经验的编程作业。该项目建立了一个实验室，并开发了一个创新的实验室课程，可以作为其他专业的本科操作系统课程的样板。该实验室以工作站为基础，在窗口环境中使用Unix操作系统。已经购买了14台工作站和一台服务器并联网。正在实施一系列基于虚拟环的实验和学生项目，并正在编写一份实验室手册，其中介绍了涵盖标准操作系统课程中大多数主题的学生作业。此外，调试工具正在与窗口集成，以允许学生监控并发计算。由首席调查员所在机构提供的等额奖金将与此相匹配。

Distributed computing is an important aspect of many fields of computer science including architecture, operating systems, programming languages, data base management, algorithms, and artificial intelligence. Undergraduates are usually introduced to this subject in an operating systems course during a study of process control and concurrency. There is, however, a lack of programming assignments which give students practical experience with these concepts within a single semester course. This project establishes a laboratory and develops an innovative laboratory curriculum which can serve as a model for undergraduate operating systems courses in other programs. The laboratory is workstation-based and uses the UNIX operating system in a windowing environment. Fourteen workstations and a server have been purchased and networked. A series of experiments and student projects based on virtual rings are being implemented, and a laboratory manual is being produced which describes student assignments covering most of the topics contained in a standard operating systems course. In addition, debugging tools are being integrated with the windows to allow students to monitor concurrent computations. The award is being matched by an equal amount from the principal investigator's institution.