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Computer Systems
Last Updated: 2026-06-03 00:07:49
Abstract
This course is about real computer systems, and the principles on which they are designed and built. We cover both modern OSes and the large-scale distributed systems that power today's online services. We illustrate the ideas with real-world examples, but emphasize common theoretical results, practical tradeoffs, and design principles that apply across many different scales and technologies.
Objective
The objective of the course is for students to understand the theoretical principles, practical considerations, performance tradeoffs, and engineering techniques on which the software underpinning almost all modern computer systems is based, ranging from single embedded systems-on-chip in mobile phones to large-scale geo-replicated groups of datacenters. By the end of the course, students should be able to reason about highly complex, real, operational software systems, applying concepts such as hierarchy, modularity, consistency, durability, availability, fault-tolerance, and replication.
Content
This course subsumes the topics of both "operating systems" and "distributed systems" into a single coherent picture (reflecting the reality that these disciplines are highly converged). The focus is system software: the foundations of modern computer systems from mobile phones to the large-scale geo-replicated data centers on which Internet companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft are based. We will cover a range of topics, such as: scheduling, network protocol stacks, multiplexing and demultiplexing, operating system structure, inter-process communication, memory managment, file systems, naming, dataflow, data storage, persistence, and durability, computer systems performance, remote procedure call, consensus and agreement, fault tolerance, physical and logical clocks, virtualization, and replication. The format of the course is a set of about 25 topics, each covered in a lecture. There is no book for the course, but we will refer to textbooks and research papers throughout to provide additional background and explanation.
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- BSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- session examination
- Mode
- written 180 minutes
- Aids
- None
- Digital
- The exam takes place on devices provided by ETH Zurich.
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture | Computer Systems | No time listed | 4 h weekly |
| exercise |
Computer Systems
Groups are selected in myStudies.
|
No time listed | 2 h weekly |
| independent project | Computer Systems | No time listed | 1 h weekly |