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UC Berkeley CS162: Operating Systems and System Programming

Descriptions

  • Offered by: UC Berkeley
  • Prerequisites: Computer architecture (CS61C level equivalent), C programming
  • Programming Language: C
  • Difficulty: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
  • Class Hour: 80+

Berkeley CS162 is Berkeley's OS course, placing greater emphasis on systems-level programming practice than MIT 6.S081. The course covers process management, concurrency, memory management, file systems, networking, and security.

CS162 is known for its heavy workload and high difficulty. Course projects and assignments require you to implement core OS components in C, including a thread library, file system scheduler, and network server.

Course Resources

Course Features

  • Concurrency focus: Threads, locks, condition variables, semaphores — the core theme of CS162
  • Network programming: Socket programming and distributed systems foundations
  • Security: Buffer overflow, privilege management, cryptography basics
  • Large project: A semester-long project implementing a complete network server

Self-Study Tips

Emphasize concurrency. Concurrency is the highlight of OS interviews and the most time-consuming chapter in CS162. Practice extensively.

Complete all programming assignments. CS162's programming assignments are exceptionally well-designed, each helping you deeply understand a core concept.

Reference MIT 6.S081. The two courses have different emphases. MIT focuses on kernel implementation; Berkeley focuses on systems programming. Learning both is complementary.

Notes

CS162 has a heavier workload than MIT 6.S081, but Berkeley's lecture videos are high-quality, making it great for students who prefer video-based learning.