COSC 80 REVIEWER
Preemptive Operating System - task with a higher
INTRODUCTION TO OPERATING SYSTEM
• Operating System – operating system is the most
important software that runs on a computer. It
manages the computer's memory and processes, as
well as all of its software and hardware. It also allows
you to communicate with the computer without
knowing how to speak the computer's language.
Without an operating system, a computer is useless.
– it offers a UI through a CLI or GUI; it launches and
manages the application execution; and it identifies
and expose system hardware resources to those
applications -- typically, through a standardized API.
• System Software – provides a consistent and
repeatable way for applications to interact with the
hardware without the applications needing to know
any details about the hardware.
• UI (User Interface) – enabling users and
administrators to interact with the OS in order to set
up, configure and even troubleshoot the operating
system and its underlying hardware:
• GUI – lets you use your mouse to click icons, buttons,
and menus, and everything is clearly displayed on the
screen using a combination of graphics and text.
• Types of Desktop Operating Systems:
1. Microsoft Windows – created the Windows
operating system in the mid-1980s. comes pre-
loaded on most new PCs, which helps to make it
the most popular operating system in the world.
2. macOS – (previously called OS X) is a line of
operating systems created by Apple. It comes
preloaded on all Macintosh computers, or Macs.
Accounts for the 10% of computer users.
3. Linux – is a family of open-source operating
systems, which means they can be modified and
distributed by anyone around the world.
Accounts for the 2% of computer users.
• Types of Mobile Operating Systems:
1. General-Purpose Operating System – tend to
work in concert with processors where each core
runs a single thread of execution at a time. Here,
the operating system’s scheduler decides which
program to run and when, rapidly switching
between each program. This results in the illusion
of simultaneous execution.
2. Embedded Operating System – a computer
operating system designed for use in embedded
computer systems. It has limited features. The
term "embedded operating system" also refers to
a "real-time operating system".
• Types of Embedded Operating System:
1. Real-Time Operating System – is a deterministic
operating system with limited functionalities that
allow multi-threaded applications by giving
processed outputs within set time limitations.
2. Multi-Tasking Operating System – multiple tasks
and processes run at the same time. If the system
contains more than one processor, it may
perform a wide range of functions.
3.
priority is always defined and executed before a task
with a lower priority.
PRINCIPLE OF OPERATING SYSTEMS
• Process – a program in execution which then forms
the basis of all computation. The process is not as
same as program code but a lot more than it. A
process is an 'active' entity as opposed to the program
which is considered to be a 'passive' entity.
• Process Memory:
1. The Text section is made up of the compiled
program code, read in from non-volatile storage
when the program is launched.
2. The Data section is made up of the global and
static variables, allocated and initialized prior to
executing the main.
3. The Heap is used for the dynamic memory
allocation and is managed via calls to new, delete,
malloc, free, etc.
4. The Stack is used for local variables. Space on the
stack is reserved for local variables when they are
declared.
• Process States:
1. NEW – The process is being created.
2. READY – The process is waiting to be assigned to
a processor.
3. RUNNING – Instructions are being executed.
4. WAITING – The process is waiting for some event
to occur (such as an I/O completion or reception
of a signal).
5. TERMINATED – The process has finished
execution.
• Process Control Block:
1. Process State: It can be running, waiting, etc.
2. Process ID and the parent process ID.
3. CPU registers and Program Counter. Program
Counter holds the address of the next instruction
to be executed for that process.
4. CPU Scheduling information: Such as priority
information and pointers to scheduling queues.
5. Memory Management information: For example,
page tables or segment tables.
6. Accounting information: The User and kernel
CPU time consumed, account numbers, limits,
etc.
7. I/O Status information: Devices allocated, open
file tables, etc.
• Process Scheduling – there are two or more runnable
processes then it is decided by the Operating system
which one to run first.
• Good Scheduling Properties:
1. Response time should be minimum for the users.
2. The number of jobs processed per hour should be
maximum i.e., good scheduling algorithm should
give maximum throughput.
3. The utilization of the CPU should be 100%.
4. Each process should get a fair share of the CPU.
• Memory Management – deals with the usage of the
primary memory of the computer system. Its purpose
 is to move processes between primary memory
(R.A.M.) and secondary memory (R.O.M.).
• Fragmentation – when processes are moved to and
from the main memory, the available free space in
primary memory is broken into smaller pieces. This
happens when memory cannot be allocated to
processes because the size of available memory is less
than the amount of memory that the process
requires. Such blocks of memory stay unused.
• Types of Fragmentation:
1. External Fragmentation – The total amount of
free available primary is sufficient to reside a
process, but cannot be used because it is non-
contiguous.
2. Internal Fragmentation – occurs when the
memory block assigned to the process is larger
than the amount of memory required by the
process.
• Memory Management Technique:
1. Segmentation – a method of dividing the primary
memory into multiple blocks. Each block is called
a segment and has a specific length. Every
segment has a starting address referred to as its
base address.
2. Paging – is a technique of memory management
in which the process address space is broken into
blocks. All the blocks are of the same size and are
referred to as “pages”.
3. Swapping – includes two tasks, swapping in, and
swapping out. Swapping in means placing the
blocks or pages of data from the secondary
memory to the primary memory. Swapping out is
removing blocks/pages of data from the main
memory to the Read-Only Memory (R.O.M.).
SYSTEM CALL AND SYSTEM PROGRAM
• System Call – a method of interaction with the OS
through the system programs. It is a technique in
which a computer system program requests a service
from the OS kernel.
• Types of System Call:
1. Process Control - It is responsible for file
manipulation jobs, including creating files,
deleting files, reading, opening, writing, closing,
etc.
2. File Management - It is responsible for file
manipulation jobs, including creating files,
opening files, deleting files, closing files, etc.
3. Device Management - These are responsible for
device manipulation, including reading from
device buffers, writing into device buffers, etc.
4. Information Maintenance - These are used to
manage the data and its share between the OS
and the user program. Some common instances
of information maintenance are getting time or
date, getting system data, setting time or date,
setting system data, etc.
5. Communication - These are used for inter-
process communication (IPC). Some examples of
IPC are creating, sending, receiving messages,
deleting communication connections, etc.
• System Program – the act of creating System
Software by using the System Programming
Languages. A system program offers an environment
in which programs may be developed and run. In
simple terms, the system programs serve as a link
between the user interface (UI) and system calls.
• Types of System Program:
1. File Management – a collection of specific
information saved in a computer system's
memory. File management is described as
manipulating files in a computer system, including
the creation, modification, and deletion of files.
2. Status Information – is information about the
input, output process, storage, and CPU
utilization time, how the process will be
computed in how much memory is necessary to
execute a task.
3. File Modification – utilized to change files on
hard drives or other storage media. Besides
modification, these programs are also utilized to
search for content within a file or to change
content within a file.
4. Programming-Language Support – includes
certain standard system programs that allow
programming languages such as C, Visual Basic,
C++, Java, and Pearl. There are various system
programs, including compilers, debuggers,
assemblers, interpreters, etc.
5. Program Loading and Execution - After
Assembling and Compiling, the program must be
loaded into the memory for execution. A loader is
a component of an operating system responsible
for loading programs and libraries, and it is one of
the most important steps to starting a program.
The system includes linkage editors, relocatable
loaders, Overlay loaders, and loaders.
6. Communication - System program offers virtual
links between processes, people, and computer
systems. Users may browse websites, log in
remotely, communicate messages to other users
via their screens, send emails, and transfer files
from one user to another.
• Key Differences between System Call and System
Program:
1. A user may request access to the operating
system's services by using the system call. In
contrast, the system program fulfils a common
user request and provides a compatible
environment for a program to create and run
effectively.
2. The programmer creates system calls using high-
level languages like C and C++. Assembly level
language is used to create the calls that directly
interact with the system's hardware. On the other
hand, a programmer solely uses a high-level
language to create system programs.
3. System call defines the interface between the
services and the user process provided by the OS.
 In contrast, the system program defines the
operating system's user interface.
4. The system program satisfies the user program's
high-level request. It converts the request into a
series of low-level requests. In contrast, the
system call fulfils the low-level requests of the
user program.
5. The user process requests an OS service using a
system call. In contrast, the system program
transforms the user request into a set of system
calls needed to fulfil the requirement.
6. The system call may be categorized into file
manipulation, device manipulation,
communication, process control, information
maintenance, and protection. On the other hand,
a System program may be categorized into file
management, program loading and execution,
programming-language support, status
information, communication, and file
modification.
LAYERED STRUCTURE OF OPERATING SYSTEM
• Layered Structure – breaks up the operating system
into different layers and retains much more control on
the system. The bottom layer (layer 0) is the
hardware, and the topmost layer (layer N) is the user
interface.
• Why Layering in Operating System?
1. All the layers can be defined separately and
interact with each other as required. Also, it is
easier to create, maintain and update the system
if it is done in the form of layers.
2. Each of the layers in the operating system can
only interact with the above and below layers.
The lowest layer handles the hardware, and the
uppermost layer deals with the user applications.
• Architecture of Layered Structure
1. A particular layer can access all the layers present
below it, but it cannot access them. That is, layer
n-1 can access all the layers from n-2 to 0, but it
cannot access the nth.
2. Layer 0 deals with allocating the processes,
switching between processes when interruptions
occur or the timer expires. It also deals with the
basic multiprogramming of the CPU.
3. Thus, if the user layer wants to interact with the
hardware layer, the response will be traveled
through all the layers from n-1 to 1. Each layer
must be designed and implemented such that it
will need only the services provided by the layers
below it.
• The Six Layers of Layered Operating System:
1. Hardware: This layer interacts with the system
hardware and coordinates with all the peripheral
devices used, such as a printer, mouse, keyboard,
scanner, etc. These types of hardware devices are
managed in the hardware layer. The hardware
layer is the lowest and most authoritative layer in
the layered operating system architecture. It is
attached directly to the core of the system.
2. CPU Scheduling: This layer deals with scheduling
the processes for the CPU. Many scheduling
queues are used to handle processes. When the
processes enter the system, they are put into the
job queue. The processes that are ready to
execute in the main memory are kept in the ready
queue. This layer is responsible for managing how
many processes will be allocated to the CPU and
how many will stay out of the CPU.
3. Memory Management: Memory management
deals with memory and moving processes from
disk to primary memory for execution and back
again. All memory management is associated with
this layer. There are various types of memories in
the computer like RAM, ROM. If you consider
RAM, then it is concerned with swapping in and
swapping out of memory.
4. Process Management: This layer is responsible
for managing the processes, i.e., assigning the
processor to a process and deciding how many
processes will stay in the waiting schedule. The
different algorithms used for process scheduling
are FCFS (first come, first served), SJF (shortest
job first), priority scheduling, round-robin
scheduling, etc.
5. I/O Buffer: This layer handles the buffers for the
I/O devices and makes sure that they work
correctly.
6. User Programs: This layer deals with the many
user programs and applications that run in an
operating system, such as word processors,
games, browsers, etc. You can also call this an
application layer.
• Advantages of Layered Structure:
1. Modularity – each layer performs only the tasks it
is scheduled to perform.
2. Easy Debugging – the layers are discrete so it is
very easy to debug.
3. Easy Update – modification made in a particular
layer will not affect the other layers.
4. No direct access to hardware – a user can use the
services of hardware but cannot directly modify
or access it.
5. Abstraction – the functions and implementations
of the other layers are abstract to it.
• Disadvantages of Layered Structure:
1. Complex and careful implementation – the
arrangement of the layers must be done carefully.
2. Slower Execution – increases response time,
unlike the Monolithic system, which is faster than
this.
3. Functionality – not always possible to divide the
functionalities.
4. Communication – No communication between
non-adjacent layers.
 FAULT TOLERANCE know if components are performing to the
expected level because failures do not
• Fault Tolerance: automatically result in the system going down.
- a process that enables an operating system to
respond to a failure in hardware or software. This
fault-tolerance definition refers to the system’s
ability to continue operating despite failures or
malfunctions.
- can be built into a system to remove the risk of it
having a single point of failure. To do so, the
system must have no single component that, if it
were to stop working effectively, would result in
the entire system failing.
• Fault Tolerance Two Core Models:
1. Normal Functioning – describes a situation when
a fault-tolerant system encounters a fault but
continues to function as usual. This means the
system sees no change in performance metrics
like throughput or response time.
2. Graceful Degradation – the impact the fault has
on the system’s performance is proportionate to
the fault severity. a small fault will only have a
small impact on the system’s performance rather
than causing the entire system to fail or have
major performance issues.
• Components of a Fault Tolerance System:
1. Diversity – In this event, fault tolerance can be
sourced through diversity, which provides
electricity from sources like backup generators
that take over when a main power failure occurs.
2. Redundancy – system is equipped with one or
more power supply units (PSUs), which do not
need to power the system when the primary PSU
functions as normal.
3. Replication – involves using multiple identical
versions of systems and subsystems and ensuring
their functions always provide identical results. If
the results are not identical, then a democratic
procedure is used to identify the faulty system.
• Elements of Fault Tolerant Systems:
1. Hardware Systems – can be backed up by
systems that are identical or equivalent to them.
2. Software Systems – common example is backing
up a database that contains customer data to
ensure it can continuously replicate onto another
machine.
• Factors to Consider in Fault Tolerance:
1. Cost – The biggest disadvantage of adopting a
fault-tolerant approach is the cost of doing so.
Organizations must think carefully about the cost
elements of a fault-tolerant or highly available
system.
2. Quality Degradation – one way around the cost
of fault tolerance is to opt for more cost-effective
but lower-quality redundant components. This
approach can inadvertently increase maintenance
and support costs and make the system less
reliable.
3. Testing and Fault-detection Difficulties – Fault
tolerance inevitably makes it more difficult to