UNIX Weapons School

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~~#REDIRECT~~ [[UNIX Weapons School ~~Syllabus~~]]

[[File:UWS.png|right]]

Lecture slides are available [http://nick-black.com/lectures.html here]. These slides are very much a work in progress; LaTeX source is available on [https://github.com/dankamongmen/unix-weapons-school GitHub].

''Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.'' -- George S. Patton

[[File:topgun.png|right|thumb|On March 3, 1969, the United States Navy established an elite school for the top one percent of its pilots. Its purpose was to teach the lost art of aerial combat and to ensure that the handful of students who graduated were the best fighter pilots in the world. They succeeded. Today, the Navy calls it Fighter Weapons School. The flyers call it: TOP GUN.]]

UNIX Weapons School is an intense elective practicum. '''Its goal is to train formidably competent systems programmers.'''

''update from 2021: this class would now absolutely go into [[Io_uring|io_uring]] and [[eBPF]]. also SSDs and the resultant changes to the I/O paradigm. there would probably be some talk of Spectre/Meltdown in conjunction with the architecture lecture, also BIG.little and core scheduling. probably a bit more coverage of [[ARM]] details, though i'll not yet yeet the x86 stuff. the "future of systems programming section" would be updated. a bit more talk about distributed systems, probably, and i'd discard the current material about machine learning. other than that, this still pretty much stands.''

==Lectures thus far==

===2013-05-14 Greetings and Salutations===

* "[http://nick-black.com/intro.pdf Intro + official junk]"

** Motivation

** Class policies

** Self-assessment

* "[http://nick-black.com/bigo.pdf Big-O Ain't What it Used to Be]"

** Review of asymptotic complexity

** Case study: The impact of hardware upon matrix multiplication

===2013-05-16 Computer Architecture===

* "[http://nick-black.com/comparch.pdf Your Friend the Computer]"

** CMOS power equations and pipelining

** Superscaler and out-of-order

** Delays in dynamically pipelined processors

===2013-05-21 The x86===

* "[http://nick-black.com/x86.pdf The x86 is dead. Long live the x86!]"

** Guided tour of the x86's history

** Core frontend + backend

** x86+SSE+VEX instruction set

===2013-05-23 UNIX Development===

* "[http://nick-black.com/practicum.pdf Not Sucking in the UNIX Environment]"

** Shell

** C development: Autotools, gcc, binutils

** C++ development: CMake, g++/clang

** Debugging: gdb, valgrind, strace, ltrace

===2013-08-01 FINAL EXAM SUMMER 2013===

[[UWC Summer 2013 Final Exam]]

==Cheating==

If you feel predisposed to cheating, '''I urge you to drop the class'''. I will seek out cheating via comparison of compiled object code, statistical analysis of unit test results, and other methods. If you cheat in my class, I will use any influence I have to see you removed from my Institute and blacklisted from my industry. I will haunt you, yelling obscenities and bizarre threats for your life's pitiful remainder. My children will target your children for beatings, for unto seventy times seven generations.

==Motivation==

<blockquote>"The TOPGUN course is designed to train already experienced Navy and Marine Corps aircrews at the graduate level in all aspects of strike-fighter aircraft employment, including tactics, hardware, techniques and the current world threat for air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. The course includes eighty hours of lectures and twenty-five flights that pit students against TOPGUN instructors. When a pilot or WSO completes the TOPGUN course he/she will return as a Training Officer carrying the latest tactical doctrine back to their operational squadron, or go directly to an FRS squadron to teach new aircrews."</blockquote>

Without systems programmers, hardware sits silent, stillborn. Without systems programmers, application designers shout mutely into a void.

The reconfigurability of software combined with the system bounding of hardware allows the systems programmer the broadest space with which to innovate. Unfortunately, most of these possible innovations are just bugs, or (within the innermost ring) superbugs. When that signed vs unsigned comparison means the wrong hard drive sector is selected, it can ruin your whole day. Systems programming unites the most fundamental realms of our science: [[Programming Language Theory|programming language theory]], [[Compiler Design|compiler design]], [[architecture]], and algorithms come together in practical application. These theories are complex enough to demand classes of their own. Here, we will integrate these prerequisite theories to deliver efficient, robust systems software solutions. Furthermore, you'll become acquainted with the gritty details of cutting-edge technique.

==Grading==

<blockquote>"Classes typically lose around 70–80% of their trainees, either due to DORs (Drop-on-Requests) or injuries sustained during training, but it is not always easy to predict which of the trainees will DOR. SEAL instructors say that in every class, approximately 10 percent of the students simply do not have the physical ability to complete the training. Another 10–15 percent will definitely make it through unless they sustain a serious physical injury. The other 75–80 percent is 'up for grabs' depending on their motivation."

<br> -- Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, as described in Dick Crouch's ''The Warrior Elite: The Forging of SEAL Class 228'' (2001)</blockquote>

<blockquote>"Qui si convien lasciare ogne sospetto; ogne viltà convien che qui sia morta."

<br> -- Dante Alighieri, ''The Inferno'', Canto III, 14-15</blockquote>

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHxf17yJsKs Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn.]

Each project will be evaluated for both correctness (in terms of unit tests passed) and performance (on several reference platforms). Performance of incorrect code is, of course, moot. I will make each project public two weeks prior to its due date, and provide a set of basic unit tests and a web-accessible oracular reference implementation (you can submit inputs and receive outputs). For details of grading, see the first week's slides. I am using a scheme designed to maximize competition and conflict between class members, which I hope will reduce cheating, lead to great personal exertions, and possibly get a chair thrown.

==Thanks==

* Bill Leahy, for causing GT to pick UWS up as a class, at a time when it was nothing more than a single-page PDF flyer.

* David Kanter of [http://realworldtech.com Real World Tech] for use of his superb processor diagrams, and his years of insightful writing besides.

* Richard Bejtlich's and TaoSecurity's [http://www.taosecurity.com/training.html TCP/IP Weapons School] from BlackHat 2007, for nomenclature.

** ...and through them, of course, to the United States Navy's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_Fighter_Weapons_School Fighter Weapons School] aka "Top Gun".

UNIX Weapons School: Difference between revisions

Dank (talk | contribs)

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-#REDIRECT [[UNIX Weapons School Syllabus]]
+[[File:UWS.png|right]]
+Lecture slides are available [http://nick-black.com/lectures.html here]. These slides are very much a work in progress; LaTeX source is available on [https://github.com/dankamongmen/unix-weapons-school GitHub].
+''Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.'' -- George S. Patton
+[[File:topgun.png|right|thumb|On March 3, 1969, the United States Navy established an elite school for the top one percent of its pilots. Its purpose was to teach the lost art of aerial combat and to ensure that the handful of students who graduated were the best fighter pilots in the world. They succeeded. Today, the Navy calls it Fighter Weapons School. The flyers call it: TOP GUN.]]
+UNIX Weapons School is an intense elective practicum. '''Its goal is to train formidably competent systems programmers.'''
+''update from 2021: this class would now absolutely go into [[Io_uring|io_uring]] and [[eBPF]]. also SSDs and the resultant changes to the I/O paradigm. there would probably be some talk of Spectre/Meltdown in conjunction with the architecture lecture, also BIG.little and core scheduling. probably a bit more coverage of [[ARM]] details, though i'll not yet yeet the x86 stuff. the "future of systems programming section" would be updated. a bit more talk about distributed systems, probably, and i'd discard the current material about machine learning. other than that, this still pretty much stands.''
+==Lectures thus far==
+===2013-05-14 Greetings and Salutations===
+* "[http://nick-black.com/intro.pdf Intro + official junk]"
+** Motivation
+** Class policies
+** Self-assessment
+* "[http://nick-black.com/bigo.pdf Big-O Ain't What it Used to Be]"
+** Review of asymptotic complexity
+** Case study: The impact of hardware upon matrix multiplication
+===2013-05-16 Computer Architecture===
+* "[http://nick-black.com/comparch.pdf Your Friend the Computer]"
+** CMOS power equations and pipelining
+** Superscaler and out-of-order
+** Delays in dynamically pipelined processors
+===2013-05-21 The x86===
+* "[http://nick-black.com/x86.pdf The x86 is dead. Long live the x86!]"
+** Guided tour of the x86's history
+** Core frontend + backend
+** x86+SSE+VEX instruction set
+===2013-05-23 UNIX Development===
+* "[http://nick-black.com/practicum.pdf Not Sucking in the UNIX Environment]"
+** Shell
+** C development: Autotools, gcc, binutils
+** C++ development: CMake, g++/clang
+** Debugging: gdb, valgrind, strace, ltrace
+===2013-08-01 FINAL EXAM SUMMER 2013===
+[[UWC Summer 2013 Final Exam]]
+==Cheating==
+If you feel predisposed to cheating, '''I urge you to drop the class'''. I will seek out cheating via comparison of compiled object code, statistical analysis of unit test results, and other methods. If you cheat in my class, I will use any influence I have to see you removed from my Institute and blacklisted from my industry. I will haunt you, yelling obscenities and bizarre threats for your life's pitiful remainder. My children will target your children for beatings, for unto seventy times seven generations.
+==Motivation==
+<blockquote>"The TOPGUN course is designed to train already experienced Navy and Marine Corps aircrews at the graduate level in all aspects of strike-fighter aircraft employment, including tactics, hardware, techniques and the current world threat for air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. The course includes eighty hours of lectures and twenty-five flights that pit students against TOPGUN instructors. When a pilot or WSO completes the TOPGUN course he/she will return as a Training Officer carrying the latest tactical doctrine back to their operational squadron, or go directly to an FRS squadron to teach new aircrews."</blockquote>
+Without systems programmers, hardware sits silent, stillborn. Without systems programmers, application designers shout mutely into a void.
+The reconfigurability of software combined with the system bounding of hardware allows the systems programmer the broadest space with which to innovate. Unfortunately, most of these possible innovations are just bugs, or (within the innermost ring) superbugs. When that signed vs unsigned comparison means the wrong hard drive sector is selected, it can ruin your whole day. Systems programming unites the most fundamental realms of our science: [[Programming Language Theory|programming language theory]], [[Compiler Design|compiler design]], [[architecture]], and algorithms come together in practical application. These theories are complex enough to demand classes of their own. Here, we will integrate these prerequisite theories to deliver efficient, robust systems software solutions. Furthermore, you'll become acquainted with the gritty details of cutting-edge technique.
+==Grading==
+<blockquote>"Classes typically lose around 70–80% of their trainees, either due to DORs (Drop-on-Requests) or injuries sustained during training, but it is not always easy to predict which of the trainees will DOR. SEAL instructors say that in every class, approximately 10 percent of the students simply do not have the physical ability to complete the training. Another 10–15 percent will definitely make it through unless they sustain a serious physical injury. The other 75–80 percent is 'up for grabs' depending on their motivation."
+<br>             -- Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, as described in Dick Crouch's ''The Warrior Elite: The Forging of SEAL Class 228'' (2001)</blockquote>
+<blockquote>"Qui si convien lasciare ogne sospetto; ogne viltà convien che qui sia morta."
+<br>             -- Dante Alighieri, ''The Inferno'', Canto III, 14-15</blockquote>
+[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHxf17yJsKs Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn.]
+Each project will be evaluated for both correctness (in terms of unit tests passed) and performance (on several reference platforms). Performance of incorrect code is, of course, moot. I will make each project public two weeks prior to its due date, and provide a set of basic unit tests and a web-accessible oracular reference implementation (you can submit inputs and receive outputs). For details of grading, see the first week's slides. I am using a scheme designed to maximize competition and conflict between class members, which I hope will reduce cheating, lead to great personal exertions, and possibly get a chair thrown.
+{{:UNIX Weapons School Weekplan}}
+==Thanks==
+* Bill Leahy, for causing GT to pick UWS up as a class, at a time when it was nothing more than a single-page PDF flyer.
+* David Kanter of [http://realworldtech.com Real World Tech] for use of his superb processor diagrams, and his years of insightful writing besides.
+* Richard Bejtlich's and TaoSecurity's [http://www.taosecurity.com/training.html TCP/IP Weapons School] from BlackHat 2007, for nomenclature.
+** ...and through them, of course, to the United States Navy's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_Fighter_Weapons_School Fighter Weapons School] aka "Top Gun".