Monday, August 30, 1993

Richard Furuta
414C HR Bright Building (in the HRL)
845-3839
furuta@cs.tamu.edu

First day goals
- Overview of course from an administrative perspective
- Determine student's background and available resources

SYLLABUS HANDOUT.  Note that TA info is TBA.  Labs TBA.  My office
hours are limited on sheet but actually I am available much more than
this (these are minimum guarantees).  Bad: MWF before lecture.  Good:
MWF afternoons.  Contact via email or telephone to office.

Class philosophy: self-reliance.  No attendance other than as required
for university recordkeeping purposes.  On exams I prefer to ask "how"
questions rather than definitional questions.  Student should plan to
keep up with course and try to *use* the techniques discussed rather
than wait for last minute.

Study habits: make sure to review material in a timely fashion so that
questions can be raised when they are fresh rather than all piled up
at the end.

Student should develop multiple sources of information.  First line:
text.  If that doesn't make sense, can try other texts.  If more
detail is wanted, go to the original literature.  ACM Computing
Surveys often has articles that are relevant.

Grading philosophy.  10% guarantee.  Open up as appropriate.

Lab details TBA.  Will specify details on what kinds of cooperation
are permissible later in semester.  However labs will probably have an
oral reporting component.

Alternate labs possible.  Small teams OK (up to 3).  All get same
grade.  Requires proposal.  Discuss with me first.

Course overview:

Will follow Silberschatz, et al. closely at least through chapter 11
(perhaps beyond if time permits or perhaps other selected topics
afterwards).  Expect three to four lectures per chapter after the
initial stuff.  The initial three chapters will be covered this
Wednesday and Friday.

ASSIGNMENT: should be reading first three chapters of text