Computer Science 230 - Computer Systems Principles

Large-scale software systems like Google - deployed over a world-wide network of hundreds of thousands of computers - have become a part of our lives. These are systems success stories - they are reliable, available ("up" nearly all the time), handle an unbelievable amount of load from users around the world, yet provide virtually instantaneous results. On the other hand, many computer systems don't perform nearly as well as Google - hence the now-cliche "the system is down." In this class, we study the scientific principles behind the construction of high-performance, scalable systems. The course begins with a discussion of data representation, and moves up the stack from there to the features of modern architectures, assembly languages, and operating system services such as I/O, process, and synchronization.

Open to Computer Science majors only. COMPSCI 187/CICS 210 w/C, 198C STARTING FALL 2023, PASSING COMPSCI 198C IS A REQUIRED PREREQUISITE. SEATS ARE BEING SAVED FOR INCOMING TRANSFER STUDENTS UNTIL THE END OF NEW STUDENT ORIENTATION AND TRANSFER (NSOT) ENROLLMENT PERIOD. REMAINING SEATS WILL BE RELEASED PRIOR TO CLASS START. STUDENTS NEEDING SPECIAL PERMISSION MUST REQUEST OVERRIDE VIA THE ON-LINE FORM: https://www.cics.umass.edu/academics/course-overrides