This note is about:
  the philosophy of this course ("how the course will be taught")
  as opposed to the course content ("what the course will teach").

There are three overall principles that guide the structure of this course:
A.  I will be respectful of the students' time.
B.  The systems topics taught will be relevant to a broad range of
    disciplines.  (Not all PhD students work in computer systems.)
C.  There will be an emphasis on learning good technical writing.

These three principles form an implicit contract concerning how I will
teach the course.  Please talk to me during the course if you believe
that I am not following the three principles.

===
In greater detail, here are the three principles, with their rationale:

A.  I intend to be respectful of the students' time.  I will target 10 hours
    per week for my course (in most weeks).  On rare occasions, the
    total time in a week may go as high as 20 hours per week
    (but only briefly, and for important deadlines).

    RATIONALE:  PhD students are simultaneously working on their PhD
    research toward a thesis, alongside the course.  In a theoretical
    "40-hour work week", a student should be spending 20 hours per week
    on courses and 20 hours per week on an RA or TA.  That means just 10
    hours per week for a single course (including mine).  We all stretch
    this 40-hour work week into something closer to 60 hours per week.
    But that "overtime"  (byeond 40 hours) should be dedicated to a
    student's PhD research.  It should not be dedicated to intensive
    work within the discipline of a single course (which is typically
    not the student's own discipline).

B.  I intend to emphasize course topics that can be applicable
    to a broad range of other disciplines.  The insights from my course
    should provide tools and ways of thinking that enhance research in
    _other_ disciplines.  Examples of such tools and ways of thinking are:
    new debbugging strategies; a more intuitive performance analysis;
    and effective use of multi-threaded programming.  The last example
    is especially critical now that most CPUs have multiple CPU cores.
    There is no need to continue to program "like it is 2010".

    RATIONALE:  The course should be relevant to the needs of PhD students
    in _other_ disciplines.  A required core course should not be catering
    primarily to students in just that one discipline.

C.  I will emphasize technical writing for the last segment of this
    course.  (Since this is a systems course, the writing must include
    some reading of systems papers and some writing related to the topic
    of systems.)  In past iterations, I have evolved a new recipe for good
    technical writing.  That recipe will provide the student an initial
    framework for good technical writing.  Good writing is a lifelong
    learning effort, but this initial framework will provide a useful
    "on-ramp" for that lifelong endeavor.

    RATIONALE:  PhD students will be writing technical papers and a thesis.
    Technical writing is a basic skill that will benefit students in _all_
    disciplines.  In order to realistically emulate research-level technical
    wirting, I insist that part of the exercies includes assimilating
    systems papers that the student has not previously read.  This forces
    the student to logically structure their throughts in what is for them
    an unfamiliar environment.  This is the essence of research writing.