CS3 Operating Systems, 2013-14. ESSAY ----- The essay accounts for 10% of the total assessment for the module. The essay should be submitted by 16:00 on Friday 22 November 2013. Submission must be in electronic form, as PDF, via the submit command, adhering strictly to the formatting instructions below. If you have exceptional reasons for requiring to submit hardcopy, please contact me *in advance*. To submit, use submit os 2 essay-CODE.pdf where CODE identifies the topic of your essay - see below. FORMATTING RESTRICTIONS: Essays should be typeset for easy readability. In particular, they should be formatted for A4 paper, and should use 11pt or 12pt type, with appropriate margins and line lengths. Double spacing is NOT required, and is actively discouraged. Your file must be in the following format ONLY: PDF, filename essay-CODE.pdf . The file must be conformant PDF, preferably viewable by GhostView or gv (but as long as Acroread can read them, it's ok). Remember that Unix filenames are case-sensitive; do not submit files called Essay-CODE.pdf . IDENTIFICATION: Essays are marked anonymously, so DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME IN YOUR ESSAY. It is not necessary to include any other identification. GUIDANCE: Your essay will require to you to research material in libraries and on the Web. Please remember that source material should be properly referenced and acknowledged. In particular, note that tertiary sources, such as Wikipedia, are fine for finding information in the first place, but are not an authoritative source for a reference. If you cull information from Wikipedia, you should reference the sources from which Wikipedia got the information (and ideally you would actually check those sources!). As most essays involve a fair amount of description, it is acceptable for there to be a corresponding amount of directly quoted material. As a guide, I suggest that if more than 25% of your essay is directly quoted, you are probably not making enough original contribution, and should instead be summarizing and analysing your sources rather than just quoting them. Essays will be assessed primarily on the level and accuracy of the research and the development and structure of the arguments. You should, however, write in standard written English, and the standard and (more importantly) precise use of standard English is part of the specification. If you have a "coursework sticker", you can indicate this on the front page of your essay. Normally coursework does not receive any adjustment; if you exceptionally have a "schedule of adjustments" that specifies an adjustment for coursework, please indicate this. If you are not a native English speaker, you may (if you wish) indicate this on the first page of your essay. Your essay should be as long as necessary, but no longer. As a guide, you should aim at a level of detail that will allow you to cover the topic within four or five pages. Essays should certainly not go beyond ten pages. You may choose any of the following topics for your essay: (1) "Operating Systems for the Cloud". The Cloud is currently very fashionable, and many companies are providing cloud services of various kinds. Analyse, from the point of view of cloud service providers, what aspects of operating system design are most important, and evaluate how well current operating systems perform. What advice could you give to an aspiring cloud service provider? Submission code: cloud (i.e. you submit essay-cloud.pdf). (2) "Operating systems in functional languages." Traditionally, OS programming is the epitome of on-the-machine imperative programming -- even recursion is often frowned on. Nonetheless, there have been efforts to use the functional programming paradigm to write OSes or OS components. Describe the work in this area, discuss how well it complies with normal expectations for OS performance, and evaluate its success. Submission code: fp (i.e. you submit essay-fp.pdf). (3) "Root-kits". Increasingly attackers are using sophisticated kernel-level techniques to hide their malicious activity from detection. Defenders are responding by moving their detection abilities into the kernel as well. Investigate and discuss the techniques used by rootkits to avoid detection and how these can be counteracted. Consider also BIOS-level attacks. Submission code: rk (i.e. you submit essay-rk.pdf). (4) If you wish to write an essay on another topic, please ask me; if I approve it, I will add it to this list. You may find the following rough marking indications useful: An essay that competently assembles and discusses material from slides and textbooks etc. will receive a basic D grade of 40. About 20 marks will be given for evidence of well-directed research beyond this (remember there is a world outside the WWW). About 20 marks will be given for coherent analysis and argument. About 20 marks will be given for literacy, style, and elegance of construction. These are my internal guidelines only; I may cross-compensate between them to better reflect the overall quality of the essay.