LECTURE NOTES

OPERATING SYSTEMS

SREE BALAKRISHNA COLLEGE

OF ARTS & SCIENCE
(Co-educational, Affiliated to Madurai Kamaraj University)
Vanniampatti Road, Mottamalai, Chatrapatti.-626 102.

Email ID: sreebalakrishnacollege@gmail.com

Unit I
Introduction to Operating Systems: Introduction, What is an Operating systems, Operating
system components and goals, Operating systems architecture. Process Concepts:
Introduction, Process States, Process Management, Interrupts, Interprocess Communication.

Introduction:
Today's hardware executes a great variety of software applications. To increase hardware
utilization, applications are designed to execute concurrently. If these applications are not
carefully programmed, they might interfere with one another. As a result, a layer of software
called an operating system separates applications from the hardware they access and provides
services that allow each application to execute safely and effectively.

What is an Operating system?

An operating system might have been the software that controls the hardware.

What is Kernel?
An operating system is software that enables applications to interact with a computer's
hardware. The software that contains the core components of the operating system is called the
kernel.

What are the primary purposes of an operating system?

The primary purposes of an operating system are to enable applications to interact with a
computer’s hardware and to manage a system’s hardware and software resources.

What do you mean job in computing?

A job constituted the set of program instructions corresponding to a particular computational
task, such as payroll or inventory.

What is single stream batch processing?

Single stream batch processing,because programs and data were submitted in groups or
batches by loading them consecutively onto tape or disk. A job stream processor read the job
control language statements (that defined each job) and facilitated the setup of the next job.
When the current job terminated, the job stream reader read in the control-language statements
for the next job and performed appropriate housekeeping chores to ease the transition to the
next job.

What is multiprogramming?
Multiprogramming systems that managed several jobs at once. In a multiprogramming
environment , the operating system rapidly switches the processor from job to job,keeping
several jobs advancing while also keeping peripheral devices in use.

What is the process?

The process to describe a program in the context of operating systems.
What is distributed computing?
Distributed computing that is using multiple independent computers to perform a common
task.(Ex. Client server model).
What is a shell?
A user interacts with the operating system via one or more user applications, and often through
a special application called a shell, or command interpreter.

What are the core components of an operating system?

1.The process scheduler, which determines when and for how long a process executes on a
processor.
2.The memory manager, which determines when and how memory is allocated to processes
and what to do when main memory becomes full.
3. The I/O manager, which services input and output requests from and to hardware devices,
respectively.
4. The interprocess communication (IPC) manager, which allows processes to communicate
with one another.
5. The file system manager, which organizes named collections of data on storage devices and
provides an interface for accessing data on those devices.

What is thread?
The program components , which execute independently but perform their work in a common
memory space are called threads.

What is the device driver?

The Input and output device system call is subsequently handled by a device driver, which is a
software component that interacts directly with hardware, often containing device-specific
commands and other instructions to perform the requested input/output operations.

What is a disk scheduler?

Secondary storage, however, is much slower than processors and main memory. The disk
scheduler component of an operating system is responsible for reordering disk I/O requests to
maximize performance and minimize the amount of time a process waits for disk I/O.

What is RAID?
Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) systems attempt to reduce the time a process
waits for disk I/O by using multiple disks at once to service I/O requests.

What are the characteristics of an operating system?

● Efficiency
● Robustness
● Scalability
● Extensibility
● Portability
● Security
 ● Interactivity
● Usability

What is throughput?
Throughput measures the amount of work a processor can complete within a certain time
period.

Operating system architectures

Monolithic architecture
Every component of an operating system is contained in the kernel and can directly
communicate with other components by using function calls.

Layered Architecture

Layered architecture combines the components that have similar functions are in same layer.
Modularity imposes structure and consistency on the operating system,often simplifying
validation, debugging and modification.
Microkernel Architecture
Microkernels exhibit a high degree of modularity, making them extensible,
portable and scalable