ACT AMERICAN

COLLEGE OF
TECHNOLOGY
COMPUTER SCIENCE B.SC

OPERATING SYSTEM

ASSIGNMENT 1

Prepared by: Samuel bahiru

ID: 056/BSC-B1/20
 1. System program and its types

 System program is a type of computer program that is designed to run a

computer's hardware and application programs. If we think of the computer
system as a layered model, the system program is the interface between the
hardware and user applications. The operating system is the best-known
example of system program which used to manages all the other programs in a
computer.
 System program is the platform provided to the computer system where other
computer programs can execute.
 Systems program carries out middleman tasks to ensure communication
between other software and hardware to allow harmonious coexistence with the
user.

We have five types of systems software which are all designed to control and
coordinate the procedures and functions of computer hardware. They actually enable
functional interaction between hardware, software and the user .

 Operating System (OS)

 The operating system is a type of system program kernel that sits between
computer hardware and end user.
 Harnesses communication between hardware, system programs, and
other applications.
 OS is the program which run on the kernel mode
 Device Drivers
 Driver software is a type of system software which brings computer
devices and peripherals to life.
 Drivers make it possible for all connected components and external add-
ons to perform their intended tasks and as directed by the OS.
 Without drivers, the OS would not assign any duties.
 Drivers permit interoperability.
 Enables device communication with the OS and other programs
 Examples of devices which require drivers:
 Mouse
 Keyboard
 Soundcard
 Firmware
 Firmware is the operational software embedded within a flash, ROM, or
EPROM memory chip for the OS to identify it.
 Enables device control and identification.
 It directly manages and controls all activities of any single hardware.
 Traditionally, firmware used to mean fixed software as denoted by the
word firm. It was installed on non-volatile chips and could be upgraded
only by swapping them with new, preprogrammed chips.
 Today, firmware is stored in flash chips, which can be upgraded without
swapping semiconductor chips.

 Programming Language Translators

 These are intermediate programs relied on by software programmers to
translate high-level language source code to machine language code.
 Popular translator languages are compilers, assemblers, and interpreters.
They're usually designed by computer manufacturers.
 Besides simplifying the work of software developers, translators help in
various design tasks, they;
 Identify syntax errors during translation, thus allowing changes to
be made to the code.
 Provide diagnostic reports whenever the code rules are not
followed.
 Allocate data storage for the program.
 List both source code and program details.
 Utilities
 Utilities are types of system software which sits between system and
application software.
 These are programs intended for diagnostic and maintenance tasks for
the computer.
 They come in handy to ensure the computer functions optimally. Their
tasks vary from crucial data security to disk drive defragmentation.
 Most are third-party tools but they may come bundled with the operating
system.

2. Operating System Structure

 General-purpose OS is very large program

 We have various ways to structure OS:
 Simple Structure -- MS-DOS
 MS-DOS – written to provide the most functionality in the least space.
 Not divided into modules
 Although MS-DOS has some structure, its interfaces and levels of
functionality are not well separated.

 Non-Simple Structure – UNIX

 UNIX – limited by hardware functionality, the original UNIX operating
system had limited structuring.
 The UNIX OS consists of two separable parts:
 Systems programs
 The kernel: Consists of everything below the system-call
interface and above the physical hardware.
 Provides the file system, CPU scheduling, memory
management, and other operating-system functions; a large
number of functions for one level.
 Beyond simple but not fully layered.

 Layered Approach (An Abstraction)

 The operating system is divided into a number of layers (levels), each
built on top of lower layers.
 The bottom layer, is the hardware.
 The highest is the user interface.
 With modularity, layers are selected such that each uses functions
(operations) and services of only lower-level layers.
 Simplifies debugging and system verification.

 Microkernel System Structure

 Moves as much as from the kernel into user space
 communication takes place between user modules using message
passing.
 Benefits:
 Easier to extend a microkernel
 More reliable (less code is running in kernel mode)
 more secure
 Easier to port the operating system to new architectures.

 iOS structure
 The structure of the iOS operating System is Layered based
 Its communication doesn’t occur directly
  the layers between the Application Layer and the Hardware layer will
help for Communication.
 The lower level gives basic services on which all applications rely and
the higher-level layers provide graphics and interface-related services.

 Android Operating System 

 The Android Operating System is an open-source system Though it has
kernels which are similar to that of Linux.
 Whenever the android operating system boots, it basically loads the
kernel like any other Linux distribution, but the rest of the software is
totally different from that of Linux.

 The libraries present in typical a Linux distro and Android are totally
different from each other.
 t has a core process which is known as the ‘Zygote’ and it excels at what
it does.