THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

LONDON CANADA

Computer Science 2211b

Software Tools and System Programming
Course Outline – January 2023

Course Information
Course Information
Course Name: Computer Science 2211b
Class Meetings: Tuesday 9:30-10:30am, Thursday 9:30-11:30am
Location: UC-3110
Lab Schedule
002 Tuesday 3:30-4:30pm MC-244
003 Thursday 4:30-5:30pm MC-244
004 Thursday 3:30-4:30pm MC-244
005 Thursday 5:30-6:30pm MC-244
006 Tuesday 4:30-5:30pm MC-244
007 Tuesday 5:30-6:30pm MC-244
Prerequisites
• Either: Computer Science 1027a/b, 1037a/b, or 2101a/b with a grade of at least 65%.
• Or: Integrated Science 1001X with a grade of at least 60%.

Unless you have either the requisites for this course or written special permission from your
Dean to enroll in it, you will be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your
record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in
the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.
Antirequisites
Software Engineering 2250a/b and the former Software Engineering 201a/b

Instructor Information
Instructor

Dr. Kaizhong Zhang

372 Middlesex College
Tel: 661-3826, ext. 83826
Course Email: cs2211<at>uwo.ca

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 Office Hours: TBA
Office Hours format: Zoom: by appointment only (arranged at least one day prior)

Course Description
Calendar Description:

This course provides an introduction to software tools and systems level programming. Top-
ics include: understanding how programs run (compilation, linking, and loading), an intro-
duction to a complex operating system (UNIX), scripting languages, and the C program-
ming language. As time permits, other topics will be chosen from: system calls, memory
management, libraries, multi-component program organization and builds, version control,
debuggers and profilers.
Course Topics
The course will address as many of the following topics as time will allow:

• UNIX Fundamentals: UNIX vs. Windows; logging on; files and directories; path
names, and directory and file structure; editors; shells; I/O redirection; UNIX con-
currency (processes); utilities; file permissions and security; regular expressions; shell
programming.

• C programming: compiling, linking and loading; data types and operators; con-
trol structures; formatted I/O; file I/O; connections between I/O and the underlying
operating system; function calls; structs; enumerations; arrays; pointers (pointer arith-
metics, pointers and arrays, arrays of pointers, pointers to functions); memory man-
agement; linked lists and other dynamically allocated data structures; strings; calling
C from UNIX; general libraries; standard libraries and headers; the C preprocessor; C
program organization.

• UNIX Tools: building and managing multi-component programs; the make utility;
version control and configuration management; debuggers; code performance and pro-
filing.

Delivery Mode
Lectures will be delivered in person.
Key Sessional Dates
Class Begin: Monday, January 9, 2023
Fall Reading Week: February 18 – February 26, 2023
Class End: Monday, April 10, 2023
Exam Period: April 13 – 30, 2023
Contingency Plan for an In-Person Class Pivoting to 100% Online Learning
In the event of a COVID-19 resurgence during the course that necessitates the course delivery
moving away from face-to-face interaction, affected course content will be delivered entirely
online, either synchronously (i.e., at the times indicated in the timetable) or asynchronously

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(e.g., posted on OWL for students to view at their convenience). The grading scheme will
not change. Any remaining assessments will also be conducted online as determined by the
course instructor.

Course Materials
Required Textbooks

• S. Das, Your UNIX/Linux: The Ultimate Guide. McGraw-Hill: 3rd edition, 2013.
• K.N. King, C Programming: A Modern Approach. Norton: 2nd edition, 2008.

Course Website
The CS2211b website is accessible through OWL: http://owl.uwo.ca. Lecture notes, as-
signments, and class information will be posted on this website. You are responsible for
reading this information frequently.
Students are responsible for checking the course OWL site (http://owl.uwo.ca) on a regular
basis for news and updates. This is the primary method by which information will be
disseminated to all students in the class.
All course material will be posted to OWL: http://owl.uwo.ca.
If students need assistance with the course OWL site, they can seek support on the OWL
Help page. Alternatively, they can contact the Western Technology Services Helpdesk. They
can be contacted by phone at 519-661-3800 or ext. 83800.
Lecture Notes
Most of the course notes will be available online through the course OWL web site. Students
are cautioned, however, that getting course notes is not a sufficient substitute for attending
lectures.
Technical Requirements
Completion of this course will require you to have a reliable internet connection and a device
that meets the system requirements for Zoom. Information about the system requirements
are available at the following link: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us.
Teaching Assistant Consulting:
Questions regarding assignments or lecture materials can be directed to a Teaching Assistant
(TA) or through the Assignment Discussions in the OWL Forums section on OWL. Questions
requiring further information can be dealt with by contacting the course instructor through
his office hour appointments or send to the course email. A list of teaching assistants and
their contact information will be posted to OWL once available.
Computing Facilities
Each student will be given an account on the Computer Science Department undergraduate
computing facility, GAUL. In accepting the GAUL account, a student agrees to abide by the
department’s Rules of Ethical Conduct.

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Email Contact
Emails related to the course should be directed to the course email account at [email protected]
which will be attended by the designated TAs and the instructor. Students could ask ques-
tions via email, however if there are any large, somewhat complicated issues, it is rec-
ommended to discuss them during office hours. Moreover, students must use their UWO
(@uwo.ca) email account in order to write to the course email account.
Online Conduct:
All of the remote learning sessions for this course may be recorded. The data captured during
these recordings may include your image, voice recordings, chat logs and personal identifiers
(name displayed on the screen). The recordings will be used for educational purposes related
to this course, including evaluations. The recordings may be disclosed to other individuals
participating in the course for their private or group study purposes. Please contact the
instructor if you have any concerns related to session recordings.
All Zoom contact will require that your video is turned on and that you can be seen by the
instructor. Not only is this a simple curtsey and the standard of Zoom classes, but it allows
for a positive interaction.

Methods of Evaluation
There are three components, labs, assignments, and exams, that will be used for the evalu-
ation.

Element Weight
9 (out of 11) Labs 9%
5 Assignments 41%
Midterm Exam 20%
Final Exam 30%

To obtain a passing mark in the course, the weighted average of the Midterm and Final
exam marks must be at least 45%, and weighted average on the assignment marks must be
at least 45%. There will be no exceptions or waiving of this requirement for any reason or
circumstance.
By the end of the term, no accommodation will be granted for either of the following cases:
• Missed more than two of the last four assignments for any reason.
• Missed all the exams for any reason.

Labs
• There will be 11 equal weight labs (1 per week).
• Labs begin the second week of classes.
• Lab descriptions will be posted on the course website. It will be available the beginning
Sunday.
• To be eligible for full marks, you must participate and complete at least 9 out of 11
labs, however participating and completing all 11 labs is recommended.
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 • The labs don’t need to be handed in and reviewed because they are not an assessment
of your ability to apply the subject matter, that is what the assignments are for. Labs
act as practice/tutorial sessions where you can solve problems and interact with the
TA and other students. You may also consider to collaborate and assist others.
• You are encouraged to work on the labs ahead of time, but you will need to demon-
strate your work to the TA. The TA will mark your lab participation as complete or
incomplete in OWL.
• In the event that the University requires delivery to be online, all labs will be managed
over Zoom sessions.

Examinations
There will be a Midterm exam and a Final exam. Midterm weights 20% and final weights
about 30%.
The Midterm exam will be (tentative) on Thursday March 9 at 9:30-11:20 AM. The Final
exam will be in April (date and time: TBA).
Both exams are closed book; however, students will be allowed to bring in one 8.5 x 11 sheet
of notes. No electronic devices of any kind are allowed.

• There will be no makeup Midterm exam. If you miss the Midterm Exam for any
reason, follow the procedure for Academic Considerations given in this website. If
accommodation is approved by your Dean’s office, your Final Exam mark will be
reweighed to include the weight of the Midterm Exam. You must notify the course
instructor within a week of the missed Midterm exam, and documentation must be
received by your Dean’s office within 2 weeks of the missed exam.

• Every effort will be made to have midterm exam marked within two weeks of the exam
date, preferably sooner.

• If you missed final exam, please check university policy at ”Student Absences” section.

Assignments
Students are expected to view the lecture materials and complete the lab exercises to prepare
for the assignments. Once the assignment is completed, all parts of the assignment must
be submitted on the OWL site. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that all
parts of each assignment are correctly uploaded and submitted in OWL, to ensure that the
assignment can be marked accordingly.
Note: Assignments emailed to the instructor or teaching assistant will not be accepted,
unless there are extenuating circumstances and prior approval from the instructor.

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The following is the tentative assignment schedule (subject to change):

Assignment Weight Due Date (by 11:55pm)

1 1% Wednesday, January 25
2 10% Wednesday, February 8
3 10% Wednesday, March 1
4 10% Wednesday, March 15
5 10% Wednesday, April 5

The due dates of the assignments are shown in the table above. Please note that all these
dates are tentative. The due dates will be confirmed when the assignments are posted on
OWL. The dates will coincide with the class progression on subsequent topics.
Where possible, the instructions for each assignment will be posted on the course website at
least 1 week in advance of the due date.
If for any reason the assignment schedule given above cannot be adhered to, the assignment
marks will be pro-rated. The five (5) assignments are worth 41% of the overall mark for the
course. If an assignment must be cancelled for any reason, the remaining assignment weights
will be prorated to add up to 41%.
About Assignments:
All assignment are individual assignments. Students may discuss approaches to assignment
problems. However, actual work (answering assignment questions, coding assignment ques-
tions, etc.) must be the student’s individual effort.
The assignments have to be typed. We do not accept handwritten assignment. However,
you can include handwritten figures if needed, but not text and formula, in your assignment.
Programming parts of the assignments must be able to run on Computer Science Department
undergraduate computing facility, GAUL. In particular, programming parts of the assign-
ments must be able to run on compute.gaul.csd.uwo.ca. This is the only platform we will
test your programs.
The standard departmental penalty for assignments that are judged to be the result of
academic dishonesty is described in this website.
You are also responsible for reading and respecting the Computer Science Department’s
policy on Scholastic Offences and Rules of Ethical Conduct.
Assignment Submission Policies
All assignments are submitted electronically through OWL course website. Instructions for
the submission of assignments will be posted on the course website. It is each student’s
responsibility to read and follow the instructions.
All assignments are due by 11:55PM of the due date. Late assignments will be accepted,
with penalty, for up to two days after the due date. After that the late work is no longer
accepted regardless if the OWL assignment submission is open or not. The late penalty in
percentage of the total mark of the assignment is 10% for one day late and 25% for two days

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late. Lateness is based on the time the assignment is received through OWL, not on the
time it was created on student’s own computer or his/her gaul account.
If you have submitted an academic consideration for an assignment, you must provide docu-
mentation in the CS2211 Assignment Academic Consideration Form when you submit
your assignment for penalty reduction, please check Exceptions to the deadline and late
policy in this document.
By submitting an assignment, you declare that:
• You have read and understood the Departmental policies on Scholastic Offences.

• The assignment is exclusively your own work

• You have complied with the Departmental Rules of Ethical Conduct.

• You have taken all reasonable precautions to ensure that your work has not been copied
by other students, including the protection of your files from access by other students.

Assignment Marking:

• Assignments will be marked by a TA within 2 weeks of the assignment due date where
possible.

• Individual marks and a detailed marking scheme will be posted on the OWL site once
marks are returned.

• Questions regarding the marking of assignments should first be directed to the teaching
assistant that graded your assignment. If your discussion with the teaching assistant
was not satisfactory then the TA will discuss the situation with the instructor.

• Requests for mark adjustments will only be considered if they are made within 1
week of receiving the assignment mark and have been first discussed with the teaching
assistant who marked the assignment. Assignment marks will be final after that
date.

• Requests for mark adjustments will only be considered when they are for adjustments
of 5 marks or greater.

Late Policy for Assignments:

It is expected that students budget enough time to properly submit their assignments via
OWL and allow for any unforeseen technological issues. 11:55 PM is a hard deadline
and no extensions or relief will be given for assignments that just miss this deadline or miss
the deadline due to technological issues. Students are expected to regularly backup their
assignments and submit well before any deadline.
The late penalty for assignments:

• Assignments will be accepted only up to two (2) days late.

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 • Assignments submitted after 11:55 PM on the due date but before 11:55 PM on the
day after the posted due date will be deducted 10% of the total grade.

• Assignments submitted after 11:55 PM on the day after the due date but before 11:55
PM on the next day will be deducted 25% of the total grade.

• Assignments submitted after 11:55 PM two days after the posted assignment due date
will receive a grade of zero (0).

• Late assignments will have a penalty of 10% or 25% of the maximum mark for the
assignment deducted based on time of submission as listed in OWL. Thus, if a student
would have received 90% on an assignment based on 100%, then if it was submitted
three hours late the student would receive 80%, if it was submitted twenty five hours
late the student would receive 65%.

Exceptions to the deadline and late policy

No extensions will be given for assignments except for in the event of serious medical or
compassionate grounds. A student must follow the procedure for Academic Accommodation
for Medical Illness as given in this document.
• If your submitted academic consideration for an assignment is approved, we acknowl-
edge the university policy and extension will be given according to the number of
days approved by academic counsellors.

• The arrangement of the course is that you must provide documentation in the CS2211
Assignment Academic Consideration Form, downloadable from the course web-
site, when you submit your assignment for penalty reduction.

• The documentation will be either the document or email from student services allowing
the extension. The teaching assistant grading the assignment will then apply the
supplied extension to the grade.

• If the extension is within five days, you do not need to contact the instructor and we
will not reply any such inquiry.

• If the extension is more than five days, contact the instructor through his office hours
to arrange an appropriate deferred due date.

Student Absences
If you are unable to meet a course requirement due to illness or other serious circumstances,
please follow the procedures below.
Assessments worth less than 10% of the overall course grade:
Assessments worth 10% or more of the overall course grade:

For work totalling 10% or more of the final course grade, you must provide valid medical or
supporting documentation to the Academic Counselling Office of your Faculty of Registration

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as soon as possible. For further information, please consult the University’s medical illness
policy at this website. The Student Medical Certificate is available at this website.
Absences from Final Examinations
If you miss the Final Exam, please contact the Academic Counselling office of your Faculty
of Registration as soon as you are able to do so. They will assess your eligibility to write the
Special Examination (the name given by the University to a makeup Final Exam).
You may also be eligible to write the Special Exam if you are in a “Multiple Exam Situation”
(e.g., more than 2 exams in 23-hour period, more than 3 exams in a 47-hour period).
If a student fails to write a scheduled Special Examination, the date of the next Special
Examination (if granted) normally will be the scheduled date for the final exam the next
time this course is offered. The maximum course load for that term will be reduced by the
credit of the course(s) for which the final examination has been deferred. See the Academic
Calendar for details (under Special Examinations).

Accommodation and Accessibility

Religious Accommodation

When a course requirement conflicts with a religious holiday that requires an absence from
the University or prohibits certain activities, students should request accommodation for
their absence in writing at least two weeks prior to the holiday to the course instructor
and/or the Academic Counselling office of their Faculty of Registration. Please consult
University’s list of recognized religious holidays (updated annually) at this website.
Accommodation Policies
Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact Accessible Education, which provides
recommendations for accommodation based on medical documentation or psychological and
cognitive testing. The policy on Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities
can be found at: this website.

Academic Policies
The website for Registrarial Services is http://www.registrar.uwo.ca.
In accordance with policy, see this website, the centrally administered e-mail account pro-
vided to students will be considered the individual’s official university e-mail address. It is
the responsibility of the account holder to ensure that e-mail received from the University
at his/her official university address is attended to in a timely manner.
Scholastic offences are taken seriously and students are directed to read the appropriate
policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the following
website: see this link.
All required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the com-
mercial plagiarism detection software under license to the University for the detection of
plagiarism. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents
in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently

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submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently
between The University of Western Ontario and Turnitin.com (http://www.turnitin.com).
Tests and examinations in this course may be conducted using a remote proctoring service.
By taking this course, you are consenting to the use of this software and acknowledge that
you will be required to provide personal information (including some biometric data) and
the session will be recorded. Completion of this course will require you to have a reliable
internet connection and a device that meets the technical requirements for this service.
More information about this remote proctoring service, including technical requirements, is
available on Western’s Remote Proctoring website at: https://remoteproctoring.uwo.ca.

Support Services
Please visit the Science & Basic Medical Sciences Academic Counselling webpage for infor-
mation on add/drop courses, academic considerations for absences, appeals, exam conflicts,
and many other academic related matters: https://www.uwo.ca/sci/counselling/.
Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Mental Health@Western (at
this website) for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.
Western is committed to reducing incidents of gender-based and sexual violence and provid-
ing compassionate support to anyone who has gone through these traumatic events. If you
have experienced sexual or gender-based violence (either recently or in the past), you will
find information about support services for survivors, including emergency contacts at this
website.
To connect with a case manager or set up an appointment, please contact [email protected].
Please contact the course instructor if you require lecture or printed material in an alternate
format or if any other arrangements can make this course more accessible to you. You may
also wish to contact Student Accessible Education at this website if you have any questions
regarding accommodations.
Learning-skills counsellors at the Student Development Centre are ready to help you improve
your learning skills. They offer presentations on strategies for improving time management,
multiple-choice exam preparation/writing, textbook reading, and more. Individual support
is offered throughout the Fall/Winter terms in the drop-in Learning Help Centre, and year-
round through individual counselling.
Western University is committed to a thriving campus as we deliver our courses in the mixed
model of both virtual and face-to-face formats. We encourage you to check out the Digital
Student Experience website to manage your academics and well-being.
Additional student-run support services are offered by the USC, see this website.

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