CS 5600 — Computer Systems
4 semester hoursGraduateLectureusually offered: fall, springArlington, VABostonOnlinePortland, MaineSan Francisco, CASeattle, WASilicon Valley, CAVancouver, CanadaHybridLive CastOnlineTraditional
Studies the structure, components, design, implementation, and internal operation of computer systems, focusing mainly on the operating system level. Reviews computer hardware and architecture including the arithmetic and logic unit, and the control unit. Covers current operating system components and construction techniques including the memory and memory controller, I/O device management, device drivers, memory management, file system structures, and the user interface. Introduces distributed operating systems. Discusses issues arising from concurrency and distribution, such as scheduling of concurrent processes, interprocess communication and synchronization, resource sharing and allocation, and deadlock management and resolution. Includes examples from real operating systems. Exposes students to the system concepts through programming exercises. Requires admission to MS program or completion of all transition courses.
Prerequisites
- Requires admission to MS program or completion of all transition courses
Offering history
| Term | Sections | Enrolled | Capacity | Full | Open seats/section |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2023 | 6 | 177 | 255 | 69% | 13.0 |
| Spring 2024 | 4 | 122 | 166 | 73% | 11.0 |
| Fall 2024 | 6 | 173 | 326 | 53% | 25.5 |
| Spring 2025 | 5 | 194 | 281 | 69% | 17.4 |
| Fall 2025 | 7 | 208 | 359 | 58% | 21.6 |
| Spring 2026 | 5 | 164 | 228 | 72% | 12.8 |
Snapshots from scheduled scrapes — not live seat availability. "Full" can exceed 100% when sections over-enroll.
Meeting times
Share of recent sections by weekday: M 8% · T 32% · W 6% · Th 18% · F 12%
Common patterns: async (37% of sections), T (24% of sections), F (10% of sections), R (7% of sections), TR (6% of sections), W (6% of sections) — in patterns, R means Thursday
Professors
Fall
- Martin Schedlbauer (26% of students) · reviews
- Peter Desnoyers (25% of students) · reviews
- Aditya Mishra (10% of students) · reviews
- Kai Yee Wan (7% of students) · reviews
Spring
- Kai Yee Wan (33% of students) · reviews
- Scott Valcourt (12% of students) · reviews
- Aditya Mishra (11% of students) · reviews
- Ji Yong Shin (10% of students) · reviews
Percentages are each professor's average share of the season's enrolled students in recent terms.
Unlocks
CS 4700, CS 6640, CS 7670, EECE 5641, EECE 5699
Courses that list CS 5600 in their prerequisites.
Links
Official catalog (CS course descriptions) · Student reviews on RateMyHusky · All CS courses · Plan it at numap.app