Chapter 1

Introduction to
operating systems

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 What is an operating system?
• A program that
– controls the execution of a program and
– acts as an intermediary between a user of a computer and the
computer hardware

End user Programmer OS designer

Application programs

Utilities

Operating System

Hardware

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History of Operating Systems
• First generation 1945 - 1955
– vacuum tubes, plug boards
– Operating systems were unheard of
• Second generation 1955 - 1965
– transistors, assembly and FORTRAN
– Batch system was introduced
• Third generation 1965 – 1980
– ICs and multiprogramming
• Fourth generation 1980 – present
– personal computers

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 Second Generation
– Focused on cost effectiveness
– Computers were expensive
• IBM 7094: $200,000
– Two widely adopted improvements
• Computer operators: humans hired to facilitate
machine operation
• Concept of job scheduling: group together
programs with similar requirements
– Expensive time lags between CPU and I/O
devices
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 Second Generation

Early batch system

– bring cards to 1401
– read cards to tape
– put tape on 7094 which does computing
– put tape on 1401 which prints output
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 Second Generation

• Structure of a typical FMS job Typical operating

systems
– FMS (the Fortran Monitor System)
– IBSYS
– IBM’s operating system for the 7094 6
 Third Generation
– Faster CPUs
– Speed caused problems with slower I/O
devices
– Multiprogramming
• Allowed loading many programs at one time
– Program scheduling
• Initiated with second-generation systems
• Continues today
– Few advances in data management
– Total operating system customization
• Suit user’s needs 7
 Third Generation

Major achievements of third generation:

• Multiprogramming
• Timesharing
• MULTICS => UNIX
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 Fourth Generation
– Faster CPUs
– Speed caused problems with slower I/O devices
– Main memory physical capacity limitations
• Multiprogramming schemes used to increase CPU
• Virtual memory developed to solve physical limitation
– Database management software
• Became a popular tool
– A number of query systems introduced
– Programs started using English-like words, modular
structures, and standard operations

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 Fourth Generation
– Cost/performance ratio improvement of
computer components
– More flexible hardware (firmware)
– Multiprocessing
• Allowed parallel program execution
– Evolution of personal computers
– Evolution of high-speed communications
– Distributed processing and networked
systems introduced

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 Fourth Generation
– Demand for Internet capability
• Sparked proliferation of networking capability
• Increased networking
• Increased tighter security demands to protect
hardware and software
– Multimedia applications
• Demanding additional power, flexibility, and
device compatibility for most operating systems

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 History of Operating Systems

Recent Developments
Second Generation
Distributed computing,
Job scheduling, JCL, faster personal computers, high-
I/O, spooling, batch, files speed communication,
multi-media

1940 1955 1965 1980 1990

First Generation Third Generation

Vacuum tube, single user, Shared processing,
early operating systems multiprogramming, virtual
memory, DBMS
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 Computer System Organization
• Computer-system operation
– One or more CPUs, device controllers connect through
common bus providing access to shared memory
– Concurrent execution of CPUs and devices competing for
memory cycles

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 Basic Elements
• Processor
• Main Memory
– volatile
– referred to as real memory or primary memory
• I/O modules
– secondary memory devices
– communications equipment
– terminals
• System bus
– communication among processors, memory, and
I/O modules
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Top-Level Components
CPU Main Memory
• 0
System • 1
• 2
PC MAR Bus
Instruction
Instruction
Instruction
IR MBR •
•
I/O AR •
Data
Execution
Data
unit I/O BR
Data
Data

•
•
I/O Module • n- 2
n- 1

PC = Program counter
Buffers IR = Instruction register
MAR = Memory address register
MBR = Memory buffer register
I/O AR= Input/output address register
I/O BR= Input/output buffer register

Figure 1.1 Computer Components: Top-Level View 15

 Processor Registers
• User-visible registers
– Enable programmer to minimize main-
memory references by optimizing register
use
• Control and status registers
– Used by processor to control operating of
the processor
– Used by privileged operating-system
routines to control the execution of
programs
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 User-Visible Registers
• May be referenced by machine language
• Available to all programs - application
programs and system programs
• Types of registers
– Data
– Address
• Index
• Segment pointer
• Stack pointer

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Control and Status Registers
• Program Counter (PC)
– Contains the address of an instruction to be fetched
• Instruction Register (IR)
– Contains the instruction most recently fetched
• Program Status Word (PSW)
– Condition codes
– Interrupt enable/disable
– Supervisor/user mode
• Condition Codes or Flags
– Bits set by the processor hardware as a result of
operations
– Examples
• Positive result
• Negative result
• Zero
• 18
Overflow
 Processor
• Internal registers
– Memory address register (MAR)
• Specifies the address for the next read
or write
– Memory buffer register (MBR)
• Contains data written into memory or
receives data read from memory
– I/O address register
– I/O buffer register
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 Instruction Execution
• Two steps
– Processor reads instructions from memory
• Fetches
– Processor executes each instruction

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Instruction Fetch and Execute
• The processor fetches the instruction
from memory
• The fetched instruction is loaded to IR
• Program counter (PC) holds address of
the instruction to be fetched next
• Program counter is incremented after
each fetch to point to the next
instruction

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 Instruction Register
• Categories of instruction
– Processor-memory
• Transfer data between processor and memory
– Processor-I/O
• Data transferred to or from a peripheral device
– Data processing
• Arithmetic or logic operation on data
– Control
• Alter sequence of execution

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 Interrupts
• Interrupt the normal sequencing of the processor
• Most I/O devices are slower than the processor
– Processor must pause to wait for device

Fig: Classes of interrupts 23

Common Functions of Interrupts
• Interrupt transfers control to the interrupt service
routine generally, through the interrupt vector, which
contains the addresses of all the service routines.
• Interrupt architecture must save the address of the
interrupted instruction.
• Incoming interrupts are disabled while another
interrupt is being processed to prevent a lost
interrupt.
• A trap is a software-generated interrupt caused
either by an error or a user request.
• An operating system is interrupt driven.

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 Interrupt Handling
• When CPU is interrupted, it stops what it is doing
and immediately transfers execution to a fixed
location.
• The operating system preserves the state of the
CPU by storing registers and the program counter.
• Determines which type of interrupt has occurred:
– polling
– vectored interrupt system
• Separate segments of code determine what action
should be taken for each type of interrupt

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 Interrupts
• Suspends the normal sequence of execution

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 Interrupt Cycle

 Processor checks
for interrupts
 If no interrupts fetch
the next instruction for the current program
 If an interrupt is pending, suspend execution of the
current program, and execute the interrupt-handler
routine 27
Interrupt Timeline

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 I/O Structure
Synchronous
• After I/O starts, control returns to user
program only upon I/O completion.
– Wait instruction idles the CPU until the next
interrupt
– Wait loop (contention for memory access).
– At most one I/O request is outstanding at a
time, no simultaneous I/O processing.

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 I/O Structure
Asynchronous
• After I/O starts, control returns to user
program without waiting for I/O completion.
– System call – request to the operating system to
allow user to wait for I/O completion.
– Device-status table contains entry for each I/O
device indicating its type, address, and state.
– Operating system indexes into I/O device table
to determine device status and to modify table
entry to include interrupt.

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Two I/O Methods
Synchronous Asynchronous

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 Storage Structure
• Main memory – the only large storage media that
the CPU can access directly.
• Secondary storage – extension of main memory
that provides large nonvolatile storage capacity.
• Magnetic disks – rigid metal or glass platters
covered with magnetic recording material
– Disk surface is logically divided into tracks, which
are subdivided into sectors.
– The disk controller determines the logical interaction
between the device and the computer.

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 Storage Hierarchy
• Storage systems organized in hierarchy.
– Speed
– Cost
– Volatility
• Caching – copying information into faster
storage system; main memory can be
viewed as a last cache for secondary
storage.

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Storage-Device Hierarchy

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 Caching
• Important principle, performed at many levels in a
computer (in hardware, operating system, software)
• Information in use copied from slower to faster
storage temporarily
• Faster storage (cache) checked first to determine if
information is there
– If it is, information used directly from the cache (fast)
– If not, data copied to cache and used there
• Cache smaller than storage being cached
– Cache management important design problem
– Cache size and replacement policy

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Migration of Integer A from Disk to Register
• Multitasking environments must be careful to use most
recent value, not matter where it is stored in the storage
hierarchy

• Multiprocessor environment must provide cache

coherency in hardware such that all CPUs have the most
recent value in their cache
• Distributed environment situation even more complex
– Several copies of a datum can exist

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Operating system overview

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 Operating System Objectives
• Convenience
– Makes the computer more convenient to use
• Efficiency
– Allows computer system resources to be used
in an efficient manner
• Ability to evolve
– Permit effective development, testing, and
introduction of new system functions without
interfering with service
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 Operating System Objectives
• Convenience
– Makes the computer more convenient to use
• Efficiency
– Allows computer system resources to be used in
an efficient manner
• Ability to evolve
– Permit effective development, testing, and
introduction of new system functions without
interfering with service
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 Services Provided by the OS
• Program development
– Utility programs like editors and debuggers
• Program execution
– Handles the scheduling duties like loading
instructions and data into main memory, initializing
I/O devices and files, and preparing other resources
must be prepared
• Access to I/O devices
– OS provides a uniform interface that hides details of
I/O operations to the devices so that programmers
can access them using simple reads and writes.

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 Services Provided by the OS
• Controlled access to files
– Reflects detailed understanding structure of the
data contained in the files on the storage medium
– In case of multiple users, the OS may provide
protection mechanisms to control access to the
files
• System access
– Provides protection of resources and data from
unauthorized users and must resolve conflicts for
resource contention
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 Services Provided by the OS
• Error detection and response
– Errors that may occur
• Internal and external hardware errors
– Memory error
– Device failure
• Software errors
– Arithmetic overflow
– Access forbidden memory locations
• Operating system cannot grant request of application
– OS must provide a response that clears the error condition with the least
impact on running applications
– The response may include:
• ending the program that caused the error
• retrying the operation or
• simply reporting the error to the application.

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 Services Provided by the OS
• Accounting
– Collect usage statistics
– Monitor performance
– Used to anticipate future enhancements
– Used for billing purposes

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 Operating System Objectives
• Convenience
– Makes the computer more convenient to use

• Efficiency
– Allows computer system resources to be used in an
efficient manner
• Ability to evolve
– Permit effective development, testing, and
introduction of new system functions without
interfering with service
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 Operating system subsystems
• OS includes four essential subsystem managers
– Memory Manager
– Processor Manager
– Device Manager
– File Manager
• Network Manager (fifth subsystem manager)
– In all modern operating systems
– Assumes responsibility for networking tasks

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Operating system subsystems

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 Operating system subsystems
• Each manager:
– Works closely with other managers
– Performs a unique role
• Manager tasks
– Monitor its resources continuously
– Enforce policies determining:
• Who gets what, when, and how much
– Allocate the resource (when appropriate)
– Deallocate the resource (when appropriate)
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 Operating system subsystems
• Network Manager
– Operating systems with networking capability
– Fifth essential manager
– Convenient way for users to share resources
– Retains user access control
• Resources include:
– Hardware (CPUs, memory areas, printers, tape
drives, modems, and disk drives)
– Software (compilers, application programs, and data
files)
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 Operating system subsystems
• Memory Manager
– In charge of main memory
• Random Access Memory (RAM)
– Responsibilities include:
• Preserving space in main memory occupied by
operating system
• Checking validity and legality of memory space request
• Setting up memory tracking table
– Tracks usage of memory by sections
– Needed in multiuser environment
• Deallocating memory to reclaim it
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 Operating system subsystems
• Processor manager
– In charge of allocating Central Processing
Unit (CPU)
– Tracks process status
• An instance of program execution
– Two levels of responsibility:
• Handle jobs as they enter the system
– Handled by Job Scheduler
• Manage each process within those jobs
– Handled by Process Scheduler
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 Operating system subsystems
• Device manager
– In charge of monitoring all resources
• Devices, channels, and control units
– Responsibilities include:
• Choosing most efficient resource allocation method
– Printers, ports, disk drives, etc.
– Based on scheduling policy
• Allocating the device
• Starting device operation
• Deallocating the device
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 Operating system subsystems
• File manager
– In charge of tracking every file in the system
• Data files, program files, compilers, application programs
– Responsibilities include:
• Enforcing user/program resource access restrictions
– Uses predetermined access policies
• Controlling user/program modification restrictions
– Read-only, read-write, create, delete
• Allocating resource
– Opening the file
– Deallocating file (by closing it)

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 Operating system subsystems
• Cooperation issue
– Essential manager
• Perform individual tasks and
• Harmoniously interact with other managers
– Requires incredible precision
• No single manager performs tasks in isolation
• Network manager
– Convenient way to share resources
– Controls user access

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 Operating System Objectives
• Convenience
– Makes the computer more convenient to use
• Efficiency
– Allows computer system resources to be used in
an efficient manner

• Ability to evolve
– Permit effective development, testing, and
introduction of new system functions without
interfering with service
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 Ease of Evolution of OS
• Hardware upgrade plus new types of HW
• New services
– In response to demands of users or system
managers
– Examples:
• Maintain good performance
• Applications require windows
• Fixes
– Any operating system has faults
– A fix to a fault my introduce another fault
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 Process
• The concept of process is fundamental to the
structure of operating systems
• Definitions:
– A program in execution
– An instance of a program running on a
computer
– The entity that can be assigned to and
executed on a processor
– A unit of activity characterized by a single
sequential thread of execution, a current
state, and an associated set of system
resources 56
 Process
• Associated with each process is its
address space
– a list of memory locations from some minimum
(usually 0) to some maximum
• which the process can read and write
• The address space contains
– the executable program
– the program’s data
– Execution context of the program
• Information needed by the OS to manage the process
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 Threads
• Multiple actions executing simultaneously
– Heavyweight process (conventional process)
• Owns the resources
• Passive element
– Lightweight process (thread)
• Uses CPU and scheduled for execution
• Active element
– Multithreaded applications programs
• Contain several threads running at one time
• Same or different priorities
• Examples: Web browsers and time-sharing systems

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 Uniprogramming
• I/O devices are slow compared to the processor
• Processor can’t switch to another process
• It must wait for I/O instruction to complete before
preceding

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 Multiprogramming
• When one job needs to wait for I/O, the
processor can switch to the other job

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 Multiprogramming
• Multiprogramming needed for efficiency
– Single user cannot keep CPU and I/O devices
busy at all times
– Multiprogramming organizes jobs (code and
data) so CPU always has one to execute
– A subset of total jobs in system is kept in
memory
– One job selected and run via job scheduling
– When it has to wait (for I/O for example), OS
switches to another job
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 Timesharing
• Just as multiprogramming allows the processor
to handle multiple batch jobs at a time,
multiprogramming can also be used to handle
multiple interactive jobs.
– In this latter case, the technique is referred to as time
sharing, because processor time is shared among
multiple users
• Operating system decides to stop running one
process and start running another (timesharing)
– One process has had more than its share of CPU time
• All information about the process must be
explicitly saved somewhere during the
suspension
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 Timesharing
• Process will later be restarted in exactly the same
state it had when it was stopped
• In a time-sharing system, multiple users
simultaneously access the system through terminals,
with the OS interleaving the execution of each user
program in a short burst or quantum of computation.
• Thus, if there are n users actively requesting service
at one time, each user will only see on the average
1/n of the effective computer capacity, not counting
OS overhead
• Given the relatively slow human reaction time, the
response time on a properly designed system should
be similar to that on a dedicated computer

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 Types of Operating Systems
• Five categories
– Batch
– Interactive
– Real-time
– Hybrid
– Embedded
• Two distinguishing features
– Response time
– How data enters into the system

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 Types of Operating Systems

• Batch Systems
– Input relied on punched cards or tape
– Efficiency measured in throughput
• Interactive Systems
– Faster turnaround than batch systems
– Slower than real-time systems
– Introduced to provide fast turnaround when
debugging programs
– Time-sharing software developed for operating
system

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 Types of Operating Systems

• Real-time systems
– Reliability is key
– Fast and time limit sensitive
– Used in time-critical environments
• Space flights, airport traffic control, high-speed aircraft
• Industrial processes
• Sophisticated medical equipment
• Distribution of electricity
• Telephone switching
– Must be 100% responsive, 100% of the time

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 Types of Operating Systems

• Hybrid systems
– Combination of batch and interactive
– Accept and run batch programs in the background
• Interactive load is light
• Embedded systems
– Computers placed inside other products
– Adds features and capabilities
– Operating system requirements
• Perform specific set of programs
• Not interchangeable among systems
• Small kernel and flexible function capabilities
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