Using multiplayer games to teach interprocess communication mechanisms

Abstract

An advanced operating system (OS) course teaches students how the OS mechanisms that they have learned in OS I are implemented. Solaris and Windows NT are used to illustrate these implementations. This course covers the major aspects of OS functionality and addresses both OS design issues and user level programming issues. The area of inter-process communication is not conceptually difficult for students to grasp, but the actual implementation and use of these concepts requires some practice. For the past three years, the author has experimented with the use of multi-player games as a mechanism for teaching students these programming constructs. This paper reports on these experiences.