Course Policies

The instructor reserves the right to change the syllabus at any time. You will be notified of any changes.

The instructor will teach primarily by Flipped Classroom through video lectures, but, there will still be in-person lectures except on dates marked as No class and Office Hour. In-person lectures will not be recorded.

Worksheet

This course uses worksheet to guide your learning journey. A new worksheet will be announced each Wednesday at 17:00. This worksheet includes required videos, textbook readings, and a hands-on lab. Please work through this material independently, and discuss any problems you encounter with your teammates (three people per team).

As you work, collaborate on a shared HackMD document for your team’s learning notes. The hands-on lab contains several reflection questions (marked Q1, Q2, etc.). Write your answers in the HackMD document.

We also encourage you to explore beyond the required content by asking your own questions and documenting your discoveries. We call this a shio (short for Shio Dan Ji Lie). Details on Shio Dan Ji Lie

Please copy the course’s official Template for your notes and paste into a new HackMD shared with your team.

Please structure your team’s shared HackMD notes as follows:

  1. Video/Textbook: Shared Notes
  2. Video/Textbook: Shio (Explorations & Discoveries)
  3. Hands-on Lab: Answers to Reflection Questions
  4. Hands-on Lab: Shio (Explorations & Discoveries)
  5. Hands-on Lab: Key Takeaways & What I Learned

Submit the link to your team’s HackMD document to eLearn by the following Wednesday at 17:00. Please ensure the link allow visitors to edit, but don’t publish it.

The TAs will review every submission, leave comments, and select outstanding notes, insightful reflections, and excellent shio explorations to share with the class on Discord. You may continue to add content to your HackMD after the deadline, but any changes made after the submission time may not be reviewed by the TAs.

Note: Teams that do not submit their link on time will be ineligible for that week’s shio selection.

shio Time

If your notes or shio explorations are selected by TA, we will award your team a shio card. The instructor might highlight the shio during lecture, if time allowed.

At the end of the semester, we will rank teams by the number of shio card they get throughout the semester. The top 6 team will receive +6 extra points to their final course grade. The 7th to 12th team will receive +4 extra points to their final course grade. The 13th to 18th team will receive +2 extra points to their final course grade. In the event of a tie, we do you a favor: all tied teams are elevated to the highest rank possible.

Office Hour

Physical office hour is marked as Office Hour on the syllabus and primarily takes place on Monday’s official class time. Attendance is optional, but encouraged. The instructor and TAs will be available to answer questions and provide guidance.

We encourage you to use this time to work with your teammates on the worksheet released the previous Wednesday. Please arrive according to this time slot:

  • 10:10 AM: Team 1–15 (Teams 16–30 after midterm)
  • 11:10 AM: Team 16–30 (Teams 1–15 after midterm)

We will announce online office hour hosted on Discord voice channel, if the need arises.

Quiz

A quiz will take place in the middle of the Wednesday lecture time. Quiz covers the previous week’s content, including required reading, video lectures, and hands-on labs. If there are extended coverage, we will announce one week in advance.

Throughout the semester, we will have 8 quizzes. The 6 highest scores will count toward your final grade.

Attendance

If you are unable to attend a quiz, midterm or final exam due to force majeure (不可抗力因素), you may submit a leave request through the school’s leave application system. If the leave request is approved, you may apply for a make-up exam. If the leave request is submitted +3 days after the quiz or exam, you are ineligible for a make-up exam.

Programming Labs

There are two xv6 programming labs at the second half of the semester that require live demos. The demo policy is TBA.

  • We provide a standardized programming environment in the form of a Docker container to prevent situations where code runs correctly on your computer but not on the TA’s.
  • You are not allowed to publish your code for public access or share it with classmates outside your team. All code should be maintained in a private GitHub repository accessible only to your teammates.
  • If you are found copying another student’s code, you will automatically receive a score of zero for that assignment.

Collaboration & Citation

  • Take responsibility for your own learning. Don’t rely on your teammates to carry you.
  • Do not share your team’s HackMD notes with non-team members.
  • Citation: If you use information from an external website or document, you must cite the source with a link. This helps others find the resource and serves as a reference for your future self.
  • Getting help: Solve problems on your own first, then within your team, and only then ask a TA or post it on Discord. If you receive help on Discord from classmates or TAs, please credit them by mentioning their Discord nickname in your notes.
  • Helping Others: When helping classmates on Discord, provide hints, general directions, or links to external resources. Do not share direct answers or full code snippets, as this prevents your classmates from learning. The TAs reserve the right to remove any posts that violate this rule.

Cheating

Cheating in any form will not be tolerated in this course.

Midterm & final exams: no devices, notes, or papers are permitted. All electronic devices, including phones, smartwatches, and earbuds, must be powered off.

Quiz: conducted in person through an online platform. You are required to be physically present in the classroom with a single device capable of internet connection. (update: 2025/09/15): Quiz will be paper-based, closed-book, in-person. You must close all other tabs, applications, and terminals before the quiz begins, and you are not allowed to access communication or collaboration platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Line, Discord, or email during quiz time. You are not allowed to access search engine or AI tools, such as ChatGPT during a quiz. You are not allowed to read any note during a quiz. All notifications must be turned off before the quiz starts; failure to do so will be treated as an attempt to cheat.

Any violation of the above restrictions or any attempt to collaborate with others during an exam/quiz will result in an automatic score of zero for that assessment.

Use of LLMs

ChatGPT or other kinds of LLM can be a great tool, but it will limit your learning if you rely on it too much. You spend your time here not just to get grade, but to learn and make this knowledge your own. Here’s some advice:

  • Learn how to ask: LLMs are most helpful when you know what to ask it and how to interpret its result, NOT when you copy+paste questions and then copy+paste the answer it provides.

  • Get definition: If you’re asking questions about OS definitions or explanations about terminology, that’s great! LLM can be a great Google replacement.

  • For programming lab assignments, try to write your code independently first. If you get stuck, it’s okay to ask an LLM for guidance on function usage or debugging help, but make sure you understand the solution. Never submit code that you don’t thoroughly understand.

  • If you’re brainstorming approaches to a problem, always think on your own first and then ask an LLM to expand your ideas. You don’t want to limit your thinking by relying on AI first. Always test what you understand.

  • Do not auto-generate code for programming lab and paste AI-written “discoveries” or answers without you rewriting with your own word). Grammar fix is ok, but you must write the main content.

  • LLMs are not permitted during quizzes, midterm, or final.

  • Fun fact about cat

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