04/08/10: Exercise 3 is available on writing a response to a review. You'll write a response to this review.
02/10/10: Exercise 2 is available on writing a review.
01/20/10: Here is exercise #1. I will announce the web site username and password in class (you'll need this to access it from off campus). It's due 01/28/10 in class.
01/20/10: Look at the papers in the list below. Everybody should pick one paper that they want to present. We will add more papers that are related to the course projects during soon. Come prepared to volunteer to present a paper next week! :-)
01/20/10: Here is the list of tentative papers. Clearly, we need a consistent bibliography format. When you send papers, you should send complete bibliographic information. At a minimum, the bibliography information should include author name(s), title, full conference name (not just an acronym), year and page numbers.
01/14/10: A course schedule is available. I will update this throughout the semester. Next week, we will assign the initial round of papers.
01/14/10: Thanks for sending your papers. If you haven't sent them yet, please do so soon. Once I have the papers, I'll post a list.01/03/10: The first class is Thursday, January 14. We will not have class on January 7.
01/03/10: Bring to the 1st class two items: 1) a list of 2-3 recent papers from top systems, compiler, or architecture conferences or journals that you want to read this semester (related to the seminar topic). 2) a list of 2-3 goals that you have for the course (i.e, what do you want from this course?). Be prepared to discuss these items.
The seminar topic will be virtual execution environments (broadly interpreted). The course has a few goals: 1) give practice to reading papers and generating research ideas; 2) learn about the state-of-the-art in virtualization and related topics; and 3) get your hands dirty working with a virtual execution environment, such as REEact, Strata and Xen.
There are no pre-reqs for the course (other than the willingness to very actively participate!). I.e., the compilers course is NOT a pre-req.
The meeting time is Thursdays, 2:00-4:30pm. After the first few weeks, we may meet for a shorter period, depending on progress in reading papers, working on the projects, etc.
This course is a "graduate seminar." It is not a lecture course. The goal of this seminar is very different from a lecture course. In this seminar, we want to explore a new topic, possibly discovering new research directions and opportunities. While the seminar will have a certain broad set of topics, it will also be flexible enough to accommodate interests of seminar participants and new ideas that we develop at the semester progresses. To be successful, this seminar will require active and regular participation by everyone. You should also be highly motivated to contribute and explore new ideas.
We will read and discuss a number of papers, averaging about 2-3 per week. Student participants will be responsible for presenting these papers. The course will also give students the opportunity to modify and hack system software, such as Xen, Linux, Strata, etc. (That is, a project is required in the seminar.)
1. It's a new and exciting topic!
2. You'll get your hands dirty and get to play with cool technology!
3. You love systems programming and low level software/hardware development!
4. You have lots of ideas and can't wait to try them out!
5. You want to get involved in research right away!
6. You love a challenge and doing something creative!
7. You want to learn how to present and critically read research papers!
8. You want to see and learn how the research process works!
9. You want to learn how to write and prepare a paper for publication!
10. You reversed engineered a portion of Microsoft Windows as a kid (and then
switched to Linux)!
The requirements are simple: Read papers, present papers, participate in discussion, and work on one of the research projects.
1. Paper presentations. Each student will do 2 to 4 presentations (depending on number of participants). The presentations will be done in PowerPoint and will be approximately 25 minutes in length (10-12 slides).
2. Seminar project. Everybody will do a significant project. I have a couple specific research ideas in mind to investigate. These ideas will help drive the course. We already have preliminary work that suggest these ideas have merit, but the ideas need further conceptual development, implementation and evaluation. You may suggest your own project ideas, but this should be done with my approval.
3. Seminar participation. It is expected that everybody will attend all seminar meetings (unless sick or have a previously excused commitment) and contribute to the seminar. It's critical to read every paper beforehand.
4. Paper evaluations. We will use a "program committee" style to discuss papers; this means everybody will have to write and submit a paper review before we meet to discuss the paper.
Grades will be determined based on three criteria:
1. Presentations - 25% of grade.
2. Project - 25% of grade.
3. Participation - 50% of grade (participation is based on very active
discussion for items #3 and #4 above).
To do well in the seminar, you need to do well in all three criteria. Active participation (regularly contributing to discussion, suggesting ideas and papers, etc.) is a requirement to pass the course. There are no exams or quizzes.
Semester schedule (subject to change)
We will use this review form in preparing our evaluations of the papers that we read. The review form is due in hard copy form at the beginning of each class. You should be prepared to share and discuss your review with other class participants!