Which units to study in 5th Sem Operating Systems

Operating Systems is one of the most interesting and scoring subjects of 5th semester. There are a few chapters with problems and scoring marks here is feasible. It also helps to boost the aggregate as the other subjects like Software Engineering are not all that scorable.

Lets's start.

                                                     PART-A

1. Introduction to Operating Systems, System structures

This Unit is a general introduction to OS and the theory is easy to remember and understand. It also gives an idea as to what the entire subject is about and few of the topics discussed here are taken up in more details later on. As this the first unit that is taught and is pretty easy to remember, it CAN BE considered for the exam. 

2. Process Management

The good part about this Unit is the Scheduling Algorithms and the related problems which come in the exam. The unit is a bit long with too many concepts to understand but the concepts are relatively easy to understand and remember again. 

3. Process Synchronization

This unit is a sure JackPot because of its short length, hardly 30 pages. Some amount of code is present but trust me it is really easy to interpret. Moreover, it also helps a lot in the interviews  as the interviewers have a love for semaphores(which they can't hide :D ). Barring the Monitors which come at the end, most of it can be learnt quickly. I hadn't studied Monitors and got away luckily as they din't come for exam. 

4. Deadlocks

This unit is also a must do for exams. What makes it so important is that, it is only 30 pages , understandable, partial overlap with DBMS and Graph Theory. The Banker's Algorithm is a commonly appearing question in the exams and if it comes, its easy 10 Marks in your bag. 

To conclude, I would choose Unit 3 and 4 for sure if I have sometime to understand things. If I don't and just want to write something and get marks I would skip unit 3 and 4 and probably stick to Unit 1 and 2.

Yet another thing that I would like to share is, with OS it always helps to do 3 units from this part. The second part is a bit more tasking. Hence plan accordingly :). 

Hope this helps :), watch out this space for PART-B. 

Which units to study in SW Engineering

Software Engineering is by far the most dry subject in engineering, so many similar terms and only theory makes it very boring to study and more importantly score those 35 marks, just hoping that you would have the required 15 in internals :). (At least by our teacher's grace ;) ).

The key to score marks in Software Engineering is try NOT TO remember text the way it is in textbook, but to understand some part of it(yeah, some part, not all :) ) and try to write those keywords which conveys a lot to the evaluator.

So, lets get started.
                                                  PART-A

1: OVERVIEW

This unit is more like an introduction and has many questions directly given in the Q&A format itself. You will get an idea of how dry the rest of the subject is as you start from this chapter. 

So, considering that there wouldn't be much to mug up, I feel this chapter should be studied.

3: REQUIREMENTS:
This unit is a life-saver, it is really used everyday if you become a Software Engineer. In fact, a common scenario is that, you would be given a task to do at work, you may be asked to give in your estimate(approximate idea of when you can finish it). It always help to understand the requirement well before giving in an estimate. It is something that you can understand well and hence can be picked for exams.

4. System models, Project Management:
The best part about this unit is the Activity Networks and Bar Chart related problems in Project Mgmt, this are really easy to solve and if they come in exams, you can score 10 marks for sure(now, we all know the value of easily scorable 10 marks :P). The System Models have topics which are also explained in more detail in other subjects like (State machine models in FAFL, Inheritance in OOMD(this is in final year) ).

This is all for Part-A, watch out this page for PART-B :). 

VTU CS: which units to study in data structures

To score optimum marks in a subject, choosing which units to prepare plays a crucial role, especially when most of us start preparing only a fortnight before :D. Hence, I wanted to share with you, the units you should ideally prepare for Data Structures. Please do keep in mind that D.S plays a very vital role at the time of interview. Good product companies or start-ups would never take a candidate who is bad with D.S. Got the idea!!!? An ideal approach is to score  marks and also have sound basics to clear interview.

1. Pointers and Related stuff
    This is definitely a good choice, considering that most of the code would be written in C for practical/lab exams. It definitely helps to get a good understanding of pointers. On the other hand, please be careful not to waste  too much time in understanding expression like ***(c), from my knowledge unless you work on core systems side ie Operating Systems, Graphics Card processor, virtualization, file-systems, you will rarely use C in industry.

2. String, Derived Types and Files
    Please skip this unit. Let us understand why? Files are definitely not worth spending time on, as far as the interviewers are awake they will never ever ask you anything about files. Trust me on this :). The worst thing is, lets say you have prepared well on String and Derived Types but have missed Files( as you found it boring, I did ;) ) and now what if a 8 marks question comes from Files, you loose it. Hence I would suggest its worth skipping.

3. Stacks
   Yet another easy take away, its pretty simple to understand and unless you really want to, you cannot loose marks from this unit. Special focus needed on prefix to postfix and vice-versa conversion and evaluation of expressions using stacks. A common mistake while coding is to check if the stack is full/empty.

4. Recursion and Queues
   Recursions are a very handy techniques to solve lot of difficult problems and come up with the efficiency of the solution. Hence, it is good to have a right understanding of Recursion. Another advantage is, recursion drastically reduces the amount of code that you have to write the code becomes much shorter.
  Queues are also straight forward and easy to grasp and score. Hence, don't miss this unit.

 That makes it 3 units from Part 1.

                                      Lets take up Part B now 

In my opinion, part 2 of VTU Data Structures is among the most important topics to prepare well for any technical interview.

5.  Linked Lists
    This unit deals with an introduction to Singly Linked Lists, their efficiency of various CRUD operations(create, read, update and delete). Interviewers have a thing for singly linked lists so this is something that cannot be skipped. These also help to implement other Data structures like trees.

6. Lists 2
    Of all the units in Part B, this one is of a relatively less importance but is really easy to pick up for someone who has got its predecessor ie Unit 5 understood right. There is also one lab question from this and that sort of gets easier to crack if you study it, but lets save this for the last :).

7. Trees: Binary Trees, BT representation
    Trees make up the heart of Data Structures and it was only after studying it, I realized that Stacks and Queues make up Junk D.S.  The CRUD operations on tree are amazingly efficient and no wonder it is the choice of implementation at many places. Oh!! yeah, about the interview, this is a hot favorite at every good tech company.

8. Trees (part2)
    Just sit back and try to understand the applications of trees, it is then you will realize what makes it so so important to D.S. Yet another advantage of studying trees is it helps a lot to understand Algorithms in 4th Semester much better. Many complex algos like HeapSort are based on Trees.

So this is it, I hope this helps you to score marks in Lab, Written and in interview as well :). The irony is that the last couple of units are taught when the classrooms are almost empty and only students with ultra less attendance sit in the class. You are better off bunking classes in the first half :P

Do scribble your thoughts, nothing is more satisfying than hearing your opinions.