News

Reexam Results & Inspection

Written on 27.03.24 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

The re-exam participants should have received an email and can also see their results in dCMS.

The exam inspection takes place on Thursday, April 18th 2024, between 12:45 and 13:15 in E1.3 Room 528. You do not need to register for this inspection but must bring your student… Read more

Dear HOD students,

The re-exam participants should have received an email and can also see their results in dCMS.

The exam inspection takes place on Thursday, April 18th 2024, between 12:45 and 13:15 in E1.3 Room 528. You do not need to register for this inspection but must bring your student ID. You will not be allowed to take pictures or notes during the inspection.

Best regards,
The HOD Team

Re-Exam

Written on 20.03.24 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

The re-exam takes place on Monday, March 25, starting at 14:00 (sharp!). It will be a written exam, just like the final exam. On your personal status page, provided you are admitted to and registered for the exam, you will now find the seat assigned to you. If we have not… Read more

Dear HOD students,

The re-exam takes place on Monday, March 25, starting at 14:00 (sharp!). It will be a written exam, just like the final exam. On your personal status page, provided you are admitted to and registered for the exam, you will now find the seat assigned to you. If we have not assigned you a seat and you think this is a mistake, please let us know as soon as possible.

Please arrive at the lecture hall at 13:53 at the latest so you have enough time to find your seat.

The exam will take around 90 minutes. You will need your national ID card or passport and your student ID card, as well as writing utensils (an indelible pen, neither red nor green). You will not need your own paper. You are not allowed to use a calculator.

Regards,
The HOD Team

Coursebook: Re-Exam Version

Written on 15.03.24 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

we made a new version of the coursebook that will remain static until the exam. The major changes are in U08 and U09, where there were unclarities with respect to "information/entropy" as well as "independence of minimal cut sets".

Regards,
The HOD Team

Exam Results & Inspection

Written on 15.02.24 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

The exam participants should have received an email and can also see their results in dCMS. The grades have been entered into LSF already to allow you to register for the exam retake.

The exam inspection takes place on Thursday, March 7th 2024, between 11:30 and 12:30 in E1.3… Read more

Dear HOD students,

The exam participants should have received an email and can also see their results in dCMS. The grades have been entered into LSF already to allow you to register for the exam retake.

The exam inspection takes place on Thursday, March 7th 2024, between 11:30 and 12:30 in E1.3 Room 528. You do not need to register for this inspection but must bring your student ID. You will not be allowed to take pictures or notes during the inspection.

Best regards,
The HOD Team

Coursebook HOD-Fix: Importance Measures for Fault Trees

Written on 09.02.24 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear students,

Surprisingly, there were notation errors in the importance measures in Quantitative Fault Tree Analysis that nobody has spotted in the last two years. This issue was raised on the forum.

Note that all of you who passed safe-v have provided a working solution and demonstrated an… Read more

Dear students,

Surprisingly, there were notation errors in the importance measures in Quantitative Fault Tree Analysis that nobody has spotted in the last two years. This issue was raised on the forum.

Note that all of you who passed safe-v have provided a working solution and demonstrated an understanding. Furthermore, all the provided results were correct, apparently thanks to multiple errors cancelling each other out (which also led to this bug hiding for so long). We believe something about errors in the real world can be learned from this story.

We just updated the respective course book section. It might be valuable for you to have another look at the corrected (and clarified) version.

We also realized that QFTA sample solutions are missing (which apparently none of you missed?). We plan to release them later today. If you urgently need them, ... well, use your safe-v implementation to double-check the results you produce by hand.

With that, keep up the good exam preparation work and see you on Tuesday!

Best Regards,
The HOD Team

Exam-Ready Coursebook

Written on 06.02.24 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear all,

Today, we created version 2024-02-06 of the coursebook. We plan not to change the coursebook until the exam (except for bug fixes).

Please review the changelog and ensure you did not miss some of the content we added a few weeks back.

Apart from that, good luck with your exam… Read more

Dear all,

Today, we created version 2024-02-06 of the coursebook. We plan not to change the coursebook until the exam (except for bug fixes).

Please review the changelog and ensure you did not miss some of the content we added a few weeks back.

Apart from that, good luck with your exam period!

Regards,
The HOD Team

Last Plenum & Wrap-Up

Written on 01.02.24 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

on Tuesday, we'll meet for the last time to talk about content. The 90 minutes will be split into:

  • at most 60 minutes Active Plenum on U14
  • around 30 minutes Wrap-Up and Outlook, Q&A

I will transition from one to the other either when we run out of questions or after… Read more

Dear HOD students,

on Tuesday, we'll meet for the last time to talk about content. The 90 minutes will be split into:

  • at most 60 minutes Active Plenum on U14
  • around 30 minutes Wrap-Up and Outlook, Q&A

I will transition from one to the other either when we run out of questions or after exhausting the time limit.

Best regards,
The HOD Team

Exam Registration

Written on 31.01.24 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

With the last project graded, your admission is clear. If you want to take the exam, register in LSF (if possible) or in our dCMS (if LSF does not work). You can do so until Feb. 06th 2024 23:59.

Regards,
The HOD Team

Additional Worksheet Tasks

Written on 19.01.24 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

We released two more tasks for units that are already covered:

A spoiler warning: as these releases are off the normal schedule, we immediately released the solutions as well. So this time, we're not guarding you… Read more

Dear HOD students,

We released two more tasks for units that are already covered:

A spoiler warning: as these releases are off the normal schedule, we immediately released the solutions as well. So this time, we're not guarding you against spoiling fun and insights.

Best regards,
The HOD Team

Project 03 Documentation

Written on 15.01.24 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

Due to popular demand, we have published some documentation on P03 (as part of the hosted book). You can find the link in the course materials.

Best regards,
The HOD Team

Course Evaluation

Written on 11.01.24 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

from now on you can evaluate the course (until Jan 31st 2024). Please take the time to do so, it helps us improve the course over time.

The links can be found under "Materials" > "General".

Best regards,
The HOD Team

Project 03 Release

Written on 08.01.24 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

Tomorrow at 14:00, the P03 project template will be released, and the submission form will open. The project description can already be found here. Note that you have until Jan 30th at 14:00 (see also timetable).

We also released a changelog update so that you can see what has… Read more

Dear HOD students,

Tomorrow at 14:00, the P03 project template will be released, and the submission form will open. The project description can already be found here. Note that you have until Jan 30th at 14:00 (see also timetable).

We also released a changelog update so that you can see what has been modified since the last project was released.

Finally, the Docker container was updated as new tests (for P03) were created. Please make sure to re-download and re-import the changed container.

Good luck!

Regards
The HOD Team

Next Lectures

Written on 02.01.24 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

Happy New Year, and all the best for 2024!

The upcoming two units will be traditional lectures (no reading/exercises up-front, just stop by, listen, and discuss).

Here are a few more details:

Dear HOD students,

Happy New Year, and all the best for 2024!

The upcoming two units will be traditional lectures (no reading/exercises up-front, just stop by, listen, and discuss).

Here are a few more details:

Regards
The HOD Team

Project 02 Release & Christmas Break

Written on 18.12.23 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

tomorrow at 14:00 the P02 project template is released and the submission form opens. The project description can already be found here. Note that you have until Jan 09th 14:00 (see also timetable).

We also released a changelog update, so that you see what was modified since… Read more

Dear HOD students,

tomorrow at 14:00 the P02 project template is released and the submission form opens. The project description can already be found here. Note that you have until Jan 09th 14:00 (see also timetable).

We also released a changelog update, so that you see what was modified since the last project was released. In particular the new Channel Models section could be of help for understanding the underlying channel.

Good luck and happy holidays!

Regards
The HOD Team

P01b: Updated Tests and Docker Container

Written on 07.12.23 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

P01b: MARKOCEAN caused some unanticipated (but in hindsight expectable) issues with the precision of floating point numbers. We updated the tests to switch from exact to approximate equality under sensible floating-point rounding behaviour.

Please download the updated… Read more

Dear HOD students,

P01b: MARKOCEAN caused some unanticipated (but in hindsight expectable) issues with the precision of floating point numbers. We updated the tests to switch from exact to approximate equality under sensible floating-point rounding behaviour.

Please download the updated markov-tests.rs file and replace it in your workspace. If you use the Docker verification container image, re-download it via dCMS and update your local Docker engine (use the same instructions you had for setting it up initially).

Best regards,
The HOD Team

Projects 02 and 03 Timing

Written on 29.11.23 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

We realized a small inconvenience in our schedule. Originally, we would give you the P02 template at the same moment you are supposed to read U08 with essential content for the project.

Hence, we have shifted the release dates and deadlines for P02 and P03 by one week. Both… Read more

Dear HOD students,

We realized a small inconvenience in our schedule. Originally, we would give you the P02 template at the same moment you are supposed to read U08 with essential content for the project.

Hence, we have shifted the release dates and deadlines for P02 and P03 by one week. Both the intro slide deck and dCMS timetable are updated.

The current project P01 is unaffected and you must submit part a next week and part b in the week afterwards.

Best regards,
The HOD Team

Verification Environment

Written on 28.11.23 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

The necessary file (Docker container image) is now available under course materials. How to use it is explained here.

Please make use of it to avoid surprises after submitting your project file.

Good luck (also with the P01b submission that is open starting today at… Read more

Dear HOD students,

The necessary file (Docker container image) is now available under course materials. How to use it is explained here.

Please make use of it to avoid surprises after submitting your project file.

Good luck (also with the P01b submission that is open starting today at 14:00).

Best regards,
The HOD Team

Project 01 Release

Written on 20.11.23 by Andreas Schmidt

Dear HOD students,

tomorrow at 14:00 the P01 project template is released and the submission form opens (for P01a, P01b is delayed by one week). The project description can already be found here (P01a) and here (P01b) . Note that you have two weeks for P01a and an additional week for P01b (see also… Read more

Dear HOD students,

tomorrow at 14:00 the P01 project template is released and the submission form opens (for P01a, P01b is delayed by one week). The project description can already be found here (P01a) and here (P01b) . Note that you have two weeks for P01a and an additional week for P01b (see also all deadlines in dCMS timetable). We strongly recommend that you do the tasks in order, despite the fact that they are relatively independent. Note that in order to pass P01, you have to pass both parts.

We also released a changelog update, so that you see what was modified since the course started in October. In particular the improved Markov Fundamentals section could be of help for working on P01b.

Currently, the Docker container that forms the Verification Environment is not yet uploaded to dCMS. We will post it there in due time to allow you some tests before submission.

Regards The HOD Team

Show all

This is a module in the computer science and related programmes at Saarland University.

The module has been awarded a Busy Beaver Award for excellent teaching in 2023.

Introduction

Software is driving more and more systems that surround us and impact our daily life... and it is becoming increasingly important to build these systems dependably. This is "Hands-On Dependability (with Rust)" (HOD), a course designed to introduce computer science students to two things: a) foundations of dependable systems and software as well as b) the Rust programming language.

So let's put our hard hats on and get started...

Curriculum

The course covers four major areas, giving you practical and theoretical knowledge to create, maintain, and advance dependable software systems, which are essential for today's world. We will answer the following questions (amongst others) in this course:

  • Foundations of Dependability
    • What is dependability, availability, reliability, safety, etc. and where do we find it in the real world?
    • How are hazards, risks, faults, errors, and failures related?
  • Foundations of Rust
    • How to get started with Rust and write your first programs?
    • What makes Rust special? And why is it advertised as a "safe" language?
  • Advanced Dependability Concepts
    • How can information be transmitted reliably?
    • How can we analyze systems mathematically for their reliability and availability?
  • Software Engineering with Rust and GitLab
    • What tools does Rust provide (e.g. cargo) to develop software?
    • How can we leverage GitLab, including continuous integration, to make our software development process more dependable?

Organization

  • Credit Points: 6 graded (Advanced Lecture)
  • Audience: Students at any stage in their studies who want to learn about Rust and Dependability
  • Passing Criteria: Written Exam and Mini Projects
  • Schedule:
    • Active Plenum
      • Tuesdays E1.3 HS003, 14:15 - 15:45 (starting Oct, 24th)
      • Come with reading done and questions prepared - this is NOT a lecture, except for the very first slot.
    • Office Hour:
      • Mondays E1.3 SR 107 14:15 - 15:45 (starting Oct, 30th)
      • Join an open space to work on the material, collaborate with others, and ask questions.
    • Projects: 3 small ones (deadlines here)
    • Exams:
      • Main: 13.02.2024
      • Room: 25.03.2024
    • You can find all the dates here (as soon as they are fixed)
  • Material / Language:
    • Material is in English and provided in the form of a web-based living coursebook (including code fragments, videos, etc.)
    • Instructors and tutors speak German (gerne bei Problemen auf Deutsch Fragen stellen und Antworten bekommen)
  • Requisites:
    • No prior dependability knowledge is needed.
    • Elementary programming skills required (e.g. Programmierung 2 or comparable).
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