Chapter

MEMORY AND OPERATING SYSTEM

OBJECTIVES
At the end of this session, tile student will be able to
Explain the concept of computer memory
Describe the logical structure of computer memory
List the different units for measurement of computer memory
Explain the concept of operating system
Describe EDP cycle in detail
Describe the CPU Architecture
Describe in detail about the memory unit
Name the categories of operating system
Explain the features of GUI systems
Computer Memory
In our discussion during the first session of this module !e ha"e learnt that #
Computer is a machine !hich computes
It needs user instructions to !or$
%oft!are is a group of programs !hich contain commands
Computer can remember data gi"en to it&
Let us learn more about the computer's memory& (emory is used to store both data and
information& )o understand the 'shape' of memory !e !ill ta$e the follo!ing analogy& Imagine a
large sheet !ith "ertical and hori*ontal lines dra!n on it& )he little s+uares formed by the
intersection of the lines are called cells& ,e can !rite an atomic piece of data into each cell and it&
)hus remains there till !e do not erase it similarly in case of computers also !e can logically
represent - . / the memory to be made up of number of rectangular cells and group of such cells
form a bloc$& Each )here cell can hold one English alphabet or a numeric digit !orth information&
)he 0igure / belo! bytes depicts the logical representation of the computer's memory&
Fig !
0igure/ sho!s a bloc$ of around 1 cells& )hey ha"e been labelled as Cl2C1 for our con"enience&
In the case of human beings it is "ery difficult to measure memory& A rough and imperfect estimate
could be gi"en by $eeping a count of the number of pages of text that one can remember&
3ou may be able to remember t!o pages of text at a time !hereas / may be able to retain one
page !orth of data so it depends on the indi"idual it cannot be generalised& 4o!e"er in case of
computers !e can +uantify memory& A standard scale has been de"eloped !hich is as follo!s
/
C! C" C#
Ce$$%
5ne Page full of text
)ext consists of sentences&
A sentence is made up of !ords&
A !ord is a collection of alphabets&
)hus an English alphabet is the smallest piece or data that can be stored into the memory& 6ut is
do ultimately a computer can understand only electrical signals that are 'on' or 'off'& )he same thing
can the u be mathematically represented as '7' and '/'& )herefore all data are represented only in
form of '7' and this '3& )his form of representation is $no!n as the binary representation of data& A
sample piece of data under in binary representation loo$s li$e this 777/777& All numbers that !e
!rite in our daily li"es can be item con"erted into this representation using binary mathematics&
Alphabets also can be con"erted into this binary representation& Each digit of this binary
representation is a 6inary digit or bit for short&
)hus all the data pieces are group of such bits& A group of 8 bits is popularly $no!n as a nibble -
. bits is a 6yte& 7ne 6yte is e+ual to one character& )his is the smallest unit of memory&
)herefore no! !hen !e tal$ about ho! memory is measured it's referred to on the scale of bytes&
)he modern day computers ha"e a large memory& %o using bytes to measure this huge memory
!ould re+uire a "ery long number& It's li$e describing the salary of the chief executi"e of a company
in cents or pennies& %o the concept of counting bytes in thousands and its multiples has been
applied here& )he standard for this is #
/798 bytes : / ;ilobyte <;b or ;6 for short=
/798 $ilo bytes : / (egabyte </(b or (6 for short=
: /777 ;ilobytes
/798 megabytes : / Gigabyte <Gb or G6 for short=
: /777 (egabytes
: /777777 ;ilobytes
/798 giga bytes : / )era byte
Che&' Your Progre%%
Explain the logical representation of computer memory&
In a flash of a second ans!er the follo!ing #
5ne)era6yte : > (ega byte
5ne)era6yte : > $ilo byte
5neNibble : > bits
4a"ing studied about the "arious important aspects of a computer namely hard!are soft!are
computer memory !e !ill no! learn to integrate all these aspects by discussing about the
operating system&
I(tro)u&tio( to Operati(g Sy%tem
Computer is a machine !hich can understand only electrical pulses but the user gi"es instructions
in language not understood by the computer and therefore there is a gap to be bridged& )his
bridging but is done by a special soft!are $no!n as the 5perating %ystem& )his soft!are is the
9
only interface that in the user has !ith the computer !hen the user specifies a ?ob to the computer
it is actually gi"en to this operating system <abbre"iated as 5%=& )he !or$ing details are then ta$en
care by the 5%& Let's understand 5% by "isiting a restaurant& ,e go to a restaurant and ta$e the
menu card to order items of our interest& 5nly !or$ remaining for us to eat and to en?oy the food&
,e do not ha"e to bother about the ingredients re+uired for coo$ing those dishes recipe re+uired
to coo$ them nor presentation styles re+uired to ser"e them& ,e ?ust ha"e to indicate @!hatA !e
!ant and rest is the Coo$ and ,aiterAs headache&
%imilar is the case !ith computers too& 5nly thing !e need to specify is the tas$ !e !ant the
computer to do and rest is the 5perating %ystemAs headache& It ta$es cares of all the intermediate
acti"ities re+uired in accomplishing the tas$ submitted& )he "arious functions performed by the
5perating %ystem are#
/& It conducts a process called as booting&
)his is the first process !hich ta$es place the moment the computer's electrical s!itch is put on&
During this process all the peripherals connected to the computer are chec$ed and "alidated& At
the end of this "alidating process the 5% signals the user to begin !or$ing on the computer&
)his process of booting can be of t!o types namely
Cold booting
,arm booting
9& It loads the user program into the memory
)he user may ha"e !ritten some commands to sol"e a problem& )he commands are loaded
into some part of the memory so that the computer can access these instructions&
B& )he data re+uired by the program is also loaded in the memory&
)he user enters the data - the operating system places this data into the memory& At this point of
study it !ould be necessary for us to understand the logical structure of the memory&
8& Interprets the program instructions one at a time&
C& Gi"es instruction to display the result on the monitor&
D& Pro"ides the means for the proper use of the resources li$e memory input and output de"ices
etc&
1& It acts as a manager for the "arious resources and allocates <gi"es= them to "arious programs
and users as and !hen re+uired by them&
.& )he operating system soft!are controls the computer hard!are& It co2ordinates the flo! of ALU
data bet!een the "arious application programs and the users&
E& )he operating system soft!are allo!s the user to interact !ith the hard!are to obtain results&
/& Define an 5perating %ystem&
9& Name B functions of the 5%
B& Explain the process of booting
8& Name the t!o types of booting&
C& Name 9 hard!are de"ices !hose !or$ing is co2ordinated by the 5%&
After ha"ing discussed the 5% !e can interpret the EDP cycle as sho!n belo! in 0igure 9
B
Explanation: )he figure sho!s that inputs first E7 to the buffer <temporary memory resident !ithin
the input de"ice itself=& 0rom there the 5% loads them up into the primary memory and in case
primary memory is not free then the 5% holds the inputs bac$ for some time& )hen the 5% chec$s
up the CPU 's a"ailability and if it is free& then hands o"er the !or$ to the CPU and finally displays
the result on the monitor&
Fig "
Let us no! dissect the CPU and analyse as sho!n in 0igure B& )he CPU consists of three parts
namely CPU Fegisters ALU CU
Fig *
A+, - )he Arithmetic and Logic Unit or the ALU is the electronic circuit in the CPU !hich
ta$es care of all the mathematical and logical 5perations
<Eg& 9GB:> Is DGEH/9>=
Co(tro$ ,(it - )his unit controls the !hole process of data transfer from one place to the other
!hile computations are going on&
CP, Regi%ter% - )his unit is for storing any data that comes into the CPU !hile processing&
C$a%%i.i&atio( o. Operati(g Sy%tem%
6ased on the number of computers an 5% can act as an interface for t!o types of 5% ha"e been
identified namely#
Si(g$e ,%er Sy%tem%
5% is li$e a translator !hich ta$es care of the user2computer interface& No! !hen it can act as
an interface for only one user it is a single user system& Ideally all stand alone machines <i&e&
%uch computers !hich are not connected to any other computer= use this 5%& ,hen the
processor of a computer does only one ?ob at a time then it is called a single user system&
Example (% D5% <Dis$ 5perating %ystem=&
Fig /
Mu$ti0u%er Sy%tem%
8
Input
De"ices 6U00EF
Primary
(emory

CPU
5utput
De"ices
CP, Regi%ter% A+, C,
Against the earlier concept of single user system the exactly opposite concept is for the multi2user
systems& A computer system !hen acts as an interface for more than one user it becomes a
multi2user en"ironment system& Actually spea$ing at a gi"en point of time it can still process only
one user's !or$ but there are many instances in bet!een !hen the 5% is idle in such times it
goes to the other users li$e this can s!ap !ith more than one user& Users are ne"er a!are of this
s!apping going on since it happens "ery fast&
,e can understand this concept better by going through the 'restaurant' example gi"en in the
earlier part of this session& )he !aiter !ill be li$e the 5% here you are the user and the $itchen is
the processor& %imilarly the 5% ta$es charge of more than one system's functioning and alternates
bet!een them& 4a"e a loo$ at 0igure C&
Fig 1
EXPLANATION :
In this figure t!o users namely User/ and User9 are sho!n connected to the processor& 0irst
User !ants the processor for its !or$ the 5% is called as sho!n in the 0igure& ,or$ is submitted
to the processor mean!hile User9 also !ants one of its ?obs processed and so he also calls the
5%& 5% ta$es user9As ?ob and retains it till the processor completes its pre"ious tas$ then 5% gi"es
the second ?ob to the processor& )his cycle alternates and hence the 5% can be termed multi2user
en"ironment 5%&
Depending on the loo$ of the 5% interface 5% can be either character based or GUI based since
the GUI is !hat is used e"ery!here !e !ill discuss it in detail in the follo!ing session&
Graphi&a$ ,%er I(ter.a&e 2G,I3 Sy%tem%
If !e loo$ around us on the road !e can see pictorial signboards signifying par$ing instructions or
the presence of a speed brea$er or a hospital or a school in the "icinity& )hese signboards adhere
to certain standards !hich are follo!ed by all the countries in the !orld& )hese standards are
follo!ed sothat dri"ers of "ehicles do not face any problem in any country they happen to be in&
%oft!are de"elopers borro!ed this idea and decided to use it to ma$e the operating system
flexible fast and user2friendly& )o ma$e the 5% "ery popular among the mass its interface is its
face !ith !hich the user interacts& )he attempt !as to ma$e this 5% interface graphical& )hus the
operating system design !as modified& It incorporated pictorial representations for "arious
components of the hard!are as !ell as soft!are& %ome such components are files directories
and different soft!are li$e ,5FD EICEL etc& and input 2output de"ices& )he pictorial
representations are also called graphical representations& All classes of users of the computer
ha"e appreciated the soft!are !hich incorporated these picture images of "arious components&
)hese interact !ith the users !ith the help of pictures rather than !riting long character2based
commands& )hese operating system are called as grapl1ical user Ji1terface or GUI systems&
Some G,I Operati(g Sy%tem%
,indo!s2EC
,indo!s2N)
5pen %er"er UNII operating system
5%K9
No"ell operating system <N5%= "ersion 8&/
Ba%i& Compo(e(t% o. the G,I %y%tem
%ome of the common components found in e"ery GUI based 5% are
C
De%'top - )he area on the screen !hich displays the "arious components of a GUI& It is al!ays
the starting screen to the 5% en"ironment& )he painted area that you see is the des$top area&
Fig 4
5i()o6% - E"ery group under a GUI operating system has a number of icons& )hese are enclosed
in a frame called !indo!& E"ery group has its o!n !indo!& ,indo!s separate one group from the
other An icon can also represent a program group&
Me(u Bar- )here is a menu bar at the top of the display !hich sho!s the "arious menu options&
)he menu and the menu bar are displayed on the des$top& Des$top is the display screen !hich
accommodates all menu menu bars different program groups and icons&
Fig #
Me(u- )he most common !ay for the user to interact in the GUI en"ironment is to use menu
options& E"ery GUI en"ironment has at least one menu containing options or commands&
)hese options may sometimes contain further options displayed as a pull do!n menu& (enus
hold a list of commands that usually are related in some !ay& )hese relation form groups&
D
5i()o6% App$i&atio( I&o( Ta%' Bar Time
Me(u Pa) Me(u Bar
Me(u Pa)
Me(u Pa)
Fig 7
Me(u Optio(%- )he menu options are displayed as a list !hen the user selects the menu& )hese
options are commands or utilities that the system pro"ides& )o execute a command it has to be
selected from the menu& )he standard !ay to refer to commands is by using the menu name
follo!ed by the menu option& )he mouse is an ideal input de"ice for this& )he GUI en"ironment
acti"ates programs only !hen the mouse button is clic$ed on an icon menu or a menu option&
)hus the user is sa"ed from typing many characters for executing a command&
E$$ip%e- %ome menu options are follo!ed by an ellipse An ellipse indicates that the command
displays a dialog box to ma$e additional choices and complete the data for the command
execution&
Togg$e- %ome commands are preceded by a &he&' mar' a%
%a"e settings on exit
)his means that a particular command is currently acti"e or selected& )he %a"e settings on exit is a
menu option already selected in the option menu on the program manager group menu2ban Chec$
mar$s are onKoff indicators& )hey are called toggle options&
Dia$og Bo8e%- )hey are the standard !ay to tell the program exactly ho! you act& )hey are used
to choose options for the commands& Choices in dialog boxes can be made in many !ays li$e list
boxes command buttons and chec$ boxes& All these elements are sho!n in the figure belo!&
1
Ra)io Butto( Ra)io Butto(
Fig 9
$i%t Bo8- If an item has many choices it becomes difficult to sho! all these on the display& 0igure
/7 sho!s a list box& )he list box contains more than one option !hich can be tra"ersed by the
scroll bar&
1
Te8t Bo8- if a choice is not pro"ided amongst the pre2defined choices in list boxes option buttons
etc& then the choice has to be entered& )he place to insert option is called text box& It sho!s an
insertion point to enter the text&
Ra)io Butto(%- ,hen only one item from the group <generally a dialog box= is to be selected then
these options are in the form of radio buttons& )he radio button !hich is selected by default is
enclosed in a dotted circle&
Co(tro$ Me(u- E"ery !indo! opened in the en"ironment has a control menu !hich has menu
options to maximise minimise or si*e a !indo!& In addition it has options to close the !indo! as
sho!n in 0igure E&
Fig !:
/& ,hat is GUI form of 5% > !hat is the other form of 5%>
.
Che&' Bo8
+i%t Bo8 Te8t Bo8
Mi(imi%e Butto( C$o%e Butto(
Ma8imi%e Butto(
9& Name a fe! features of GUI 5%&
B& Compare the single multi2user 5%&
8& ,hat are CPU registers>
C& Define the term 6uffer does a $eyboard ha"e a buffer
D& Describe the EDP cycle !ith the 5% in picture
1& Distinguish bet!een a radio button and d chec$ box&
<4int# these are GUI controls=
The Se%%io( i( Brie.
Computer memory refers to its capability to store the user gi"en inputs&
Computer memory can be "isualised as a bloc$ of rectangular cells each cell ha"ing a uni+ue
address&
%mallest unit of measuring computer memory is a 6it group of . 6its ma$e up a byte
/798 bytes ma$e up a $ilobyte etc&
5% is system soft!are that !or$s as the interface bet!een the user and the computer
hard!are& It performs the follo!ing functions#
(anages all the computer resources li$e the memory printer etc&
Loads the program and user data into the memory&
%ubmits the ?ob to the CPU
Displays the result to the user
5% can be of 9 types namely single user and multi2user
5% !ith a graphical user interface is $no!n to be GUI <graphical user interface= based&
GUI features include graphical re representations of all the commands application programs
etc&
E