CS261 Fall 2013: Quiz #1

This exam is closed notes, closed papers, closed everything. Please use whatever word processing software that you'd like to write your answers, but please send me either plain text or PDF. Answers should be emailed to: margo@eecs.harvard.edu.

Here are the papers we've read:

  1. OS Intellectual Heritage
  2. The UNIX time-sharing system was both a departure from and a natural successor to many systems that came before it. Drawing on all the papers we've read, identify all the systems that might be considered intellectual ancestors of UNIX. For each one, include a sentence or two explaining why you listed it.

    Now, identify those systems that might be considered intellectual descendents of UNIX and provide a sentence or two explanation of why you think they might be considered descendents.

  3. Scaling
  4. Compare and contrast a multikernel (Barrelfish), clustered object (Tornado), and a hypervisor-based approach to scaling on multiple processing elements (DISCO). Discuss the key abstractions used in each, how those abstractions are like/unlike those in the other systems, and whether there are fundamental differences or merely implementation differences among them.

  5. Walk a Mile in another's shoes
  6. Imagine you are Jochen Leidtke. Write a one paragraph critique for each of the Dijkstra and Rashid papers (don't forget that the Rashid paper included three systems and their evolution -- it's not just a paper about Mach).