• An operating system is a program that acts as an
intermediary between a user of a computer and the computer hardware. • The purpose of an operating system is to provide an environment in which a user can execute programs. The primary goal of an operating system is thus to make the computer system convenient to use. • A secondary goal is to use the computer hardware in an efficient manner. Lecture 1: Introduction to Operating Systems • In brief, an operating system is the set of programs that controls a computer. Some examples of operating systems are UNIX, Mach, MS-DOS, MS- Windows, Windows/NT, OS/2 and MacOS. • An operating system is an important part of almost every computer system. • A computer system can be divided roughly into four components: the hardware, the operating system, the application programs and the users (Figure 1.1). Objectives of Operating Systems • To hide details of hardware by creating abstraction.
• To allocate resources to processes (Manage
resources).
• Provide a pleasant and effective user interface.
History of Operating Systems • The 1940's - First Generations The earliest electronic digital computers had no operating systems. Machines of the time were so primitive that programs were often entered one bit at time on rows of mechanical switches (plug boards). Programming languages were unknown (not even assembly languages). Operating systems were unheard of.
• The 1950's - Second Generation
By the early 1950's, the routine had improved somewhat with the introduction of punch cards. The General Motors Research Laboratories implemented the first operating systems in early 1950's for their IBM 701. The system of the 50's generally ran one job at a time. History of Operating Systems • The 1960's - Third Generation The systems of the 1960's were also batch processing systems, but they were able to take better advantage of the computer's resources by running several jobs at once.
• Fourth Generation With the development of LSI (Large Scale Integration) circuits, chips, operating system entered in the personal computer and the workstation age. Microprocessor technology evolved to the point that it becomes possible to build desktop computers as powerful as the mainframes of the 1970s. Lecture 2: Operating Systems Structure
• System Components
• Operating Systems Services
• System Calls and System Programs
System Components • Process Management A process is only ONE instant of a program in execution. There are many processes can be running the same program.
The five major activities of an operating system in regard to process
management are: • Creation and deletion of user and system processes. • Suspension and resumption of processes. • A mechanism for process synchronization. • A mechanism for process communication. • A mechanism for deadlock handling. System Components • Main-Memory Management Main-Memory is a large array of words or bytes. Each word or byte has its own address. Main memory is a repository of quickly accessible data shared by the CPU and I/O devices.
The major activities of an operating system in regard to memory-management
are: • Keep track of which part of memory are currently being used and by whom. • Decide which processes are loaded into memory when memory space becomes available. • Allocate and deallocate memory space as needed. System Components • File Management A file is a collected of related information defined by its creator. Computer can store files on the disk (secondary storage), which provide long term storage.
• The creation and deletion of files.
• The creation and deletion of directions. • The support of primitives for manipulating files and directions. • The mapping of files onto secondary storage. • The backup of files on stable storage media. System Components • I/O System Management
One of the purposes of an operating system is to hide the
peculiarities of specific hardware devices from the user.
• Secondary-Storage Management
Generally speaking, systems have several levels of
storage, including primary storage, secondary storage and cache storage. Instructions and data must be placed in primary storage or cache to be referenced by a running program. System Components • Networking A distributed system is a collection of processors that do not share memory, peripheral devices, or a clock. The processors communicate with one another through communication lines called network.
• Protection System Protection refers to mechanism for controlling the access of programs, processes, or users to the resources defined by a computer system.
• Command Interpreter System
A command interpreter is an interface of the operating system with the user. The user gives commands with are executed by operating system (usually by turning them into system calls). Operating Systems Services • Program Execution The system must be able to load a program into memory and to run it. The program must be able to end its execution, either normally or abnormally (indicating error). • I/O Operations A running program may require I/O. This I/O may involve a file or an I/O device. • File System Manipulation The output of a program may need to be written into new files or input taken from some files. The operating system provides this service. • Error Detection An error is one part of the system may cause malfunctioning of the complete system. To avoid such a situation the operating system constantly monitors the system for detecting the errors. System Calls and System Programs • System calls provide the interface between a process and the operating system. These calls are generally available as assembly-language instructions, and are usually listed in the manuals used by assembly-language programmers.
