Operating Systems

2015-2016

Lecture 1
Introduction
Dr. O. Moonian
Dept. of CSE
Faculty of Engg.
University of Mauritius
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 Introduction

• A computer system consists of

• It is an extended machine
– Hides the messy details which must be performed
– Presents user with a virtual machine, easier to use

• It is a resource manager
– Each program gets time with the resource
– Each program gets space on the resources

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 Introduction to Processes(1)
 The principal function of a processor is to execute
program instructions.
 The process concept is used to designate programs under
execution
 A process can be considered to be one of the following
– An instance of a program running on a computer
– A unit of resource allocation
• Previously the process could also be considered as :
– The entity that can be assigned to and executed on a processor
– A unit of activity characterized by the execution of a sequence
of instructions, a current state, and an associated set of system
instructions
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 Introduction to Processes(2)
• When a system is booted, the OS secretly starts a number
of processes, often unknown to the user, Eg.
– To wait for e-mails,
– Virus scanners,
– Wait for print commands.
• Whenever a user runs a program, a new process is started.
• A process consists of :
– the executable program,
– the program’s data and stack,
– its program counter,
– stack pointer and other registers
– A number of resources
– + all the other information required to run the program.
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 Introduction to Processes(3)
• The concept of a process allows the system to
– Interleave the execution of multiple programs (or
applications) to maximize processor utilization while
providing reasonable response time
– Allocate resources to applications
– Support communication among applications
– create a hierarchy of executable entities
• The life of a process is bounded by its creation and
termination

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 The Process Model
• All runnable software on the computer (sometimes
including the OS) is organized into processes.
• In the discussion of processes, it will be assumed that
the system has only one processor (or CPU).
• Each user views the CPU as executing his process
sequentially.
– In reality the CPU switches back and forth from process to
process.
– This is known as multiprogramming.
– It is, however, simpler, to think of the system as consisting of
a number of parallel processes.

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 The process Model
The diagram below briefly describes how a computer system handles multiprogramming.

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 The process Model
Trace of Process
• Sequence of instruction that execute for a process
• Dispatcher switches the processor from one process to another

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The process Model

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 Process Creation
 Operating Systems have some way of creating processes.
 A process can be created whenever it is required.
 Principal events that cause process creation
1. System initialization
2. Execution of a process creation system call
3. User request to create a new process
4. Initiation of a batch job

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 Process Termination
• Processes either terminate voluntarily or are terminated
by the system
• Conditions which terminate processes
1. Normal exit (voluntary)
2. Error exit (voluntary)
– Eg. looking for a file but the file does not exist
3. Fatal error (involuntary)
– Eg. division by zero
4. Killed by another process (involuntary)

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 Process Hierarchies
 A process can create other processes which in turn can also
create processes.
 Thus we can have a hierarchical process structure.
 A process can also send messages to other processes
 In Unix a process and its descendants form a group and a
signal can be sent to the group.
 Also in Unix when the system starts, a special process called
init is created.
 Init creates one process at each terminal.
 When a user logs in, the process at the terminal creates a new

process
 Windows have no concept of process hierarchy.
 Thus processes have no parent-children relationship
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 Process States
A 3-states process model

Process Transitions

Possible process states

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 Process States
A 5-states process model

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 Implementation of Processes(1)
 To implement processes, the OS maintains a table of structures
called the process table, with one entry per process.
– The entries are known as process control blocks

• Each entry (PCB) contains information about:

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Implementation of Processes(2)

Some of the fields of a typical process table entry

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 Implementation of Processes (3)
– A process executes on the processor.
– During its execution, interrupts can occur (Eg. if an I/O
completes).
– When an interrupt occurs, the CPU needs to stop running the
process for some time and handle the interrupt.
– Associated with each I/O device is a location near the bottom of
memory, called an interrupt vector
– The interrupt vector contains the address of the interrupt service
procedure (or interrupt handler).

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 Implementation of Processes (4)
– The required information are pushed onto the stack by the
interrupt hardware (The information include the program
counter, the Program Status Word - which contains
information like the mode of execution the kind of interrupt
enabled etc., and some registers)
– The computer then jumps to the address specified by the
interrupt vector
– The interrupt service procedure starts out by saving all required
information in the process table
– It then calls the required procedure to do the real work of
processing the interrupt. (This will usually also involve waking
up a process)

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 Modeling Multiprogramming
• On Large Computers, Monoprogramming is rarely used
• For Fairness to all users and also
• Since processes spend a considerable amount of time
waiting for I/O
• Modelling Multiprogramming:
– If processes use the CPU for 20% of the time, then 5
processes would use the CPU at 100%.
– However this assumes that all the processes never wait for
the I/O at the same time.
– A more realistic approach is to make use of a probabilistic
model.
• Let n be no. of processes in memory and each process
waits for I/O a fraction p of its time.
– CPU utilization = 1-pn

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Modeling Multiprogramming

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