News

May 21, 2011: Quiz 3 solutions posted

Quiz 3 solutions are available.

May 18, 2011: Preliminary Grades

Preliminary grades have been updated. Find them on the submit page.

May 17, 2011: Extra Office Hours for Quiz 3

The TAs will hold additional office hours on Wednesday. The new hours are:

• Wednesday 2-4pm
• Wednesday 4-6pm

May 15, 2011: Office Hours and Review Session for Quiz 3

The TAs will hold the following office hours this week:

• Monday 1-3pm (Herman and Syed)
• Wednesday 2-4pm (Alex and Neha)

All office hours will be in the G9 Lounge.

The quiz 3 review session will be held on Tuesday from 7pm-9pm in 54-100.

May 11, 2011: What next?

If you're interested in building systems, consider taking one of the following classes:

• 6.823: computer architecture
• 6.824: distributed systems engineering
• 6.828: operating system engineering
• 6.829: computer networks
• 6.830: database systems
• 6.858: computer systems security

May 5, 2011: Attend the last two lectures

The last two lectures are not covered in the textbook or any course notes. Please be sure to attend, since we may ask questions about them on the final quiz.

Also, please fill out the HKN course evaluation for 6.033 on the HKN site.

May 3, 2011: Exemplary DP1s posted

We have posted some exemplary DP1s from this semester here. You can use them as references as you write your DP2 report.

April 20, 2011: Quiz 2 solutions posted

Quiz 2 solutions are available. (If you are doing an oral makeup, don't look at them.)

April 19, 2011: DP1 writing grades and revisions

You should have received, or will shortly receive feedback on your DP1 report from your writing instructor. If your grade is below 90, you may revise your report to improve your writing grade. Some restrictions apply:

• A revision can earn no higher than a 90.
• You must meet with the writing program lecturer who graded your DP1 paper, and conclude a revision plan, no later than Thursday, 21 April.
• The revision plan (and subsequent revision) must also be approved by your recitation lecturer.
• Revision must be complete and submitted by Friday 29 April.
• The grade for the revision will replace the original writing grade.
• Revising will not change the technical grade you were given for DP1.

April 19, 2011: Quiz 2 and recitation grades

Quiz 2 has been graded and will be returned to you in recitation on Thursday (4/21). You should also receive a preliminary recitation grade (participation + written assignments) before Thursday, as well as your writing grade for DP1.

Since Drop Date is on Thursday, a few people have asked us about their grades. If you contact your TA, you can get your quiz score and other grade info before Thursday.

April 11, 2011: TA Office Hours for the week of 4/11

TA Office hours will be 6-7 PM Monday, April 11th, 5-6 PM Tuesday, April 12th, and 4-6 PM Thursday, April 14th. They will be held in 32-G950, the lounge on the 9th floor of the Gates tower. In addition there will be a review session for Quiz 2 7:30-9:30 PM Wednesday, April 13th, in 54-100. You can find solutions to previous year's Quiz 2 here.

Apr 5, 2011: Design project 2 posted

We have posted design project 2.

Mar 15, 2011: DP1 due time extended to 5pm on Thursday

You can turn in your DP1 report slightly later on Thursday (i.e., the same day): at 5pm, instead of at the beginning of your recitation.

Mar 14, 2011: Extended TA office hours for the next 2 days

All the TA office hours will be held in the G9 lounge.

• Tuesday: Herman 3-5pm, Alex 3:30-5pm
• Wednesday: Syed 3-5pm, Neha 5-7pm.

Mar 14, 2011: Writing program DP1 office hours this week

• Monday: Don Unger has office hours, 11:30-2:00 in 12-112
• Tuesday: Lydia Volaitis will have office hours 12-1 in 12-112
• Tuesday: Mary Caulfield will do a DP1 Q&A, 5-7 in 12-134
• Wednesday: Janis Melvold has office hours 9-12 in 14N-322 (Building 14, North Corridor)

Mar 8, 2011:

Quiz 1 statistics are as follows: Mean 65.59, Median 67, StDev 13.38

Mar 8, 2011:

Quiz 1 solutions are available. (If you are doing an oral makeup, don't look at them.)

Mar 3, 2011:

Please check this page periodically for staff responses to anonymous feedback from students.

Feb 28, 2011: DP1 late policy

See the clarifications section of the DP1 assignment page for the policy on late submissions of DP1 reports.

Feb 28, 2011: New book errata

We have posted new errata for the 6.033 textbook here.

Feb 28, 2011: Please check submission web site for feedback

The TAs and writing staff use the submission web site to post grades and provide feedback for any assignment that you turn in. Some feedback is in the form of PDF annotations; be sure that you use a PDF viewer that's capable of displaying these annotations (such as Adobe's Acrobat Reader) to view the feedback PDF files.

Feb 24, 2011: TA Office Hours for the week of 2/28

TA Office hours will be 5-8 PM Thursday, March 3rd. They will be held in 32-G950, the lounge on the 9th floor of the Gates tower. In addition there will be a review session for the quiz 7:30-9:30 PM Wednesday, March 2nd, in 54-100.

Feb 22, 2011: DP1 clarifications

Some clarifications have been posted for DP1 at the bottom of the DP1 assignment page (section IX). Future clarifications, if any, will be posted there as well.

Feb 17, 2011: Final exam scheduled

The final exam for 6.033 will be held on Thursday, May 19th, at 1:30pm in the Johnson Track (W35).

Feb 15, 2011: TA Office Hours for the week of 2/21

TA Office hours will be 5-9 PM Tuesday, February 22nd and 3-7 PM Wednesday, February 23rd. They will be held in 32-G950, the lounge on the 9th floor of the Gates tower.

Feb 8, 2011: Design project 1 posted

We have posted design project 1.

Feb 4, 2011: Versions of Therac article

Today's writing program sections distributed an earlier version of the Therac-25 article. This version differs slightly from the newer version posted online. As you write your memo and prepare for Tuesday's recitation, please refer the online version instead.

Feb 2, 2011: Recitation Assignments

The recitation assignments for the course are now up. Please attend the recitation you've been assigned. If your name isn't on the recitations list, contact the staff so you may be assigned a recitation.

Jan 20, 2011: No course packet

This term, 6.033 will not be distriburing or requiring a printed course packet. Instead, you will be required to read papers online; links to each paper will be provided on the schedule page. If you strongly prefer printed papers (despite them not being searchable, and costing $18.00 at CopyTech), send us an email, and we will consider distributing hard-copy versions if there's enough interest.

Jan 18, 2011: Important: First Day of Class

6.033 begins on Tuesday February 1st with a recitation. You should ignore the recitation room and time assigned to you by the registrar. Note that not all of the recitation rooms listed by the registrar will be offered, but all timeslots will be available. Please consult this list of available recitations and go to one of them on Tuesday, February 1st (the first day of classes). During recitation, you will be given recitation preference sheets on which you can list your recitation and tutorial preferences. By 10pm on Wednesday February 2nd, we will assign a binding list of recitation assignments for the rest of the term, and post them to this page.

Jan 18, 2011: Textbook

6.033 will be using Saltzer and Kaashoek's Principles of Computer System Design: An Introduction (Morgan Kaufmann 2009); the readings are required. You can get a copy at the MIT Coop.

Questions or comments regarding 6.033? Send e-mail to the 6.033 staff at 6.033-staff at mit.edu or to the 6.033 TAs at 6.033-tas at mit.edu.

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