Wintersemester 2025/26

Beyond Pointers: Exploring Capabilities-based Computing

Goal of this seminar is to explore access control and protection mechanisms in software and hardware. It will be structured akin to a paper reading group where participants will be assigned a paper which they have to present to the reset of the group (30-45 min). Afterwards we will have an open discussion of the content. The standard textbook for this topic is Hank Levy's "Capability-Based Computer Systems" from 1984. It may make sense to read its first chapter [1] to get a basic understanding of the seminar's content. A more generic introduction to capabilities, especially from an access control point of view, can be found in [2].

Because of the format of the seminar, access will be limited. In case of too many enrolments, preference will be given to students who successfully completed a master-level course offered by the System Programming group, i.e. Operating Systems Engineering or Virtualization. Grading will be based on the paper presentation, mastery of the topic of the reading assignment, and overall participation in the group discussions.

[1] https://homes.cs.washington.edu/~levy/capabook/Chapter1.pdf
[2] https://habitatchronicles.com/2017/05/what-are-capabilities/