Teaching Operating Systems at Columbia University

The computing landscape is shifting towards mobile and embedded devices. To learn about operating systems, it is increasingly important for students to gain hands-on kernel programming experience in these environments, which are quite different from traditional desktops and servers. We present our work at Columbia University to teach operating systems by leveraging Android, an open, commercially supported software platform increasingly used on mobile and embedded devices. We introduce a series of five Android kernel programming projects suitable for a one semester introductory operating systems course. Each project teaches a core operating systems concept infused with Android or mobile device-specific context, such as Android-specific process relationships, use of sensors, and design considerations for resource constrained mobile devices. We also introduce an Android virtual laboratory based on virtual appliances, distributed version control, and live demonstrations which gives students hands-on Android experience, all with minimal computing infrastructure. We have used these Android kernel programming projects and virtual lab to teach an introductory operating systems course. Despite mistakes and mis-steps from teaching the course for the first time using Android, over 80% of students surveyed enjoyed using Android in the course, and students preferred Android to traditional desktop development by 3 to 1.

Linux has emerged as a widely-used platform for enabling hands-on kernel programming experience to learn about op- erating system concepts. However, developing pedagogically- effective programming projects in the context of a complex, production operating system can be a challenge. We present a structured series of five Linux kernel programming projects suitable for a one semester introductory operating systems course to address this issue. Each assignment introduces stu- dents to a core topic and major component of an operating system while implicitly teaching them about various aspects of a real-world operating system. Projects are of modest coding complexity, but require students to understand and leverage core components of the Linux operating system. The learning benefits for students from this approach include learning from real-world operating system code examples by expert kernel designers and gaining software engineering ex- perience managing production code complexity. We have successfully used these structured Linux kernel projects to teach over a thousand students in the introductory operating systems course at Columbia University.

Students learn more through hands-on project experience for computer science courses such as operating systems, but pro- viding the infrastructure support for a large class to learn by doing can be hard. To address this issue, we introduce a new approach to managing and grading operating system home- work assignments based on virtual appliances, a distributed version control system, and live demonstrations. Our solu- tion is easy to deploy and use with students’ personal com- puters, and obviates the need to provide a computer labora- tory for teaching purposes. It supports the most demanding course projects, such as those that involve operating system kernel development, and can be used by both on-campus and remote distance learning students even with intermit- tent network connectivity. Our experiences deploying and using this solution to teach operating systems at Columbia University show that it is easier to use, more flexible, and more pedagogically effective than other approaches.

Operating system courses teach students much more when they provide hands-on kernel-level project experience with a real operating system. However, enabling a large class of students to do kernel development can be difficult. To ad- dress this problem, we created a virtual kernel development environment in which operating systems can be developed, debugged, and rebooted in a shared computer facility with- out affecting other users. Using virtual machines and remote display technology, our virtual kernel development labora- tory enables even distance learning students at remote loca- tions to participate in kernel development projects with on- campus students. We have successfully deployed and used our virtual kernel development environment together with the open-source Linux kernel to provide kernel-level project experiences for over nine hundred students in the introduc- tory operating system course at Columbia University.

Operating system courses teach students much more when they provide hands-on kernel-level project experience with a real operating system. However, enabling a large class of students to do kernel development can be difficult. To ad- dress this problem, we created a virtual kernel development environment in which operating systems can be developed, debugged, and rebooted in a shared computer facility with- out affecting other users. Using virtual machines and remote display technology, our virtual kernel development labora- tory enables even distance learning students at remote loca- tions to participate in kernel development projects with on- campus students. We have successfully deployed and used our virtual kernel development environment together with the open-source Linux kernel to provide kernel-level project experiences for over nine hundred students in the introduc- tory operating system course at Columbia University.

In this article, we’ll present a different perspective by discussing our experiences teaching operating-systems courses at Columbia University (http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~nieh/teaching/w4118). Using Linux and VMware, we were able to give students a flexible virtual kernel-level development environment in which operating systems can be developed, debugged, and rebooted in a shared computing lab environment without affecting other application users.