Operating System
Operating System
3 type of programs
user / application programs
programs used by the users to perform a task
system programs
an interface between user and computer
driver programs
communicate I/O devices with computer
Program Hierarchy
User 1 User 2 User 3
.............
User n
electronic
computer
text editor
database system
spreadsheet
game
Operating System
a collection of programs which control the resources of a computer system written in low-level languages (i.e. machine-dependent) an interface between the users and the hardware when the computer is on, OS will first load into the main memory
File management
Transfers files between main memory and secondary storage, manages file folders, allocates the secondary storage space, and provides file protection and recovery
Operating System
Memory management
Allocates the use of random access memory (RAM) to requesting processes
Interface platform
Allows the computer to run other applications
Examples
Common operating systems
WINDOW
used in IBM compatible microcomputers
UNIX
multi-user, multi-tasking OS used in minicomputers and microcomputers
VAX/VMS
used in DECs VAX series of minicomputers
DOS interface
GUI
Cross-Platform Issues
Cross-Platform
developing software for, or running software, on more than one type of operating platform.
Makeup Languages
HTML XML
Advantages
cost-effective saves time develop the program on different computers
data area
where data file is stored
root directory
i.e. record the filename, size of the file , date and time
small in size
memory occupied should be as small as possible
reliable
Batch processing
Jobs, together with input data, are fed into the system in a batch. The jobs are then run one after another. No job can be started until previous job is completed
Special Features of OS
multi-tasking multi-programming parallel processing buffering spooling
Multi-tasking
to handle 2 or more programs at the same time from a single user s perception
CPU can only perform one task at a time, however, it runs so fast that 2 or more jobs seem to execute at the same time
Multi-programming
2 or more programs store in the main memory at the same time when one job reeds to wait (e.g. I/O operation), CPU switch to another job to execute when the first job finishes waiting, CPU will get back the first job to execute
Parallel Processing
use 2 or more CPUs to handle jobs without multiprocessing computer networking
with multiprocessing
Job 4
Job 3
Job 4
time
Job 3
Job 1 Job 2
time
Job 2 Job 1
CPU 1
CPU 2
CPU 1
Buffering
a temporary storage area (buffers) to read data from input device or send data to the output device keep CPU busy
because I/O operation is slow
Spooling
a larger buffer from hard disk buffer store the data through I/O operation
because I/O operation is slow and CPU operation is fast