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.

Why study Data Structures??

Most of us who study data structures in the 3rd semester, always wonder where is data structures used after all??

Except the most basic ones like Arrays, we are never ever able to understand where is it that we use these so complex data structures and is it important from an interview perspective.?? Well, let me tell you, it is one of the most asked topics in an interview and every good technology company will must and should ask you about it. This brings us to our next question, what is it that makes it so important?? Here is why:- For any program to run, it needs data and this data needs to be in primary memory, what we generally call as RAM. The way we organize data in this memory is data structures. I know you must be thinking, what would happen if I don't arrange this data? I can still access the memory and get the data. Yes, you are surely right, you can get the data but it might take much longer to retrieve it. A real life analogy to it would be to search for something in a messy room like the one shown.

You would obviously find it easy to find things in a room like the one on right. I do agree that maintaining a room like the one on right requires lot of efforts but trust me in technology it is surely worth its cost.

There are a few more technicalities like, the time needed to access a cache, RAM, Hard Disk drive increases in that order. Hence you need to make as less possible access to hard disk as you can. A practical example for this would be: assume you are asked to get something from a shop. You would first try to visit a shop as close to your house though he might charge you a little more, if not found there you would go to a super market, if not found there as well you would finally end up at the main market. Very similar to this is how a cache, RAM, hard disk works. The cache access time is very less and hence it is more costlier than the rest. For those of us who confuse data structures with DBMS, a very short explaination would be that DBMS is about storing data on your hard disk where as data structures is all about how to organize data on RAM. In the coming days, we will take up individual data structures and see where they fit and when is it that they are best used.

Scoring marks in VTU engineering made easy!!!

The most important thing to know about VTU is that studying and learning are two very different things here. I have seen my batch topper working for a Service based company, earning up a meager pay and a friend who surely had at least 3 backs every sem(yeah, I said at least :)), working for a much bigger company and earning way more.

Lets accept the fact, great companies do ask for great aggregate but here is the good news, scoring in VTU is not all that difficult. :) . A month of serious study before the exam if presented in the right way can fetch you as high as 75% in a Sem and yeah that's not too bad. :P. 

Time to spill the beans, I will share with you a few ideas so as to score easily:

1. Remember Vidya Balan's famous dialogue in Dirty Picture, Film sirf ek chiz par chalti hain "Entertainment, entertainment, entertainment". In not so different way, the most important factor is Presentation, presentation, presentation. Very surprisingly, this is what we ignore, assuming that engineering being a professional course, would have professional teachers and a fair evaluation. But this is far from reality. The teachers are highly professional but in all the wrong way and work only to make quick buck. There have been many instances where many of us got to the tune of 30-35 marks in revaluation. How sad!!!!

                 How do we make this presentation better?? Its no rocket science, remember the rules taught to us for our 10th Standard exams, the same holds good here as well.  Ideally, the first 2 pages of your answer booklet will set the stage, so be careful and avoid any scratches, stupid answers, self-assumed stories and anything which is not present in the Text book.

2. The second most important thing is Underlining the important key words, I have come across lot of instances where real bull crap was written but only a few important keywords were underlined. Guess what?? Oh!! you got it right :) it fetched a whopping 8 on 10 most of the time. :D:D From what I know, the evaluation is done based on a schema, which emphasizes on a few mandatory keywords in an answer and if by any means you get them, you have just made your tasks easier.

3. Write in points, many of the examiners still stick with the conventional mentality of "the bigger, the better " so if you have got your initial 2 pages right, there is a very high chance that they will just skim your paper and give you handful of marks.

4. Choose the Units carefully, it doesn't matter which one you choose, at the end all of them fetches you the same marks, so choose them smartly. An ideal way is to prepare 4 units perfectly and to read one 10 marks question from the 5th unit. Writing for 90, you stand a very good chance of landing up 70-75. 

 This is all for now, hope you find it useful. I will come back with more ideas and short cuts to assist you in practicals and internals. Watch out for more!!!

I finally got over my laziness and penned down a very tiny post about which units to choose for data structures. Hope you would like it. Which units to choose for data structures exam.

For all of us who are in 5th sem and are struggling with this sad and dry subject called Software Engineering, have a look Which units to choose for Software Engineering exams.