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HW 1

The document contains homework questions and answers related to operating systems concepts like process states, system calls, interrupts, semaphores, and scheduling algorithms. It discusses how traps allow context switching between user and kernel mode and the differences between traps and interrupts. Resource utilization and timeliness are given as an example of conflicting design goals for an operating system.

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Khaled Ahmed
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22 views

HW 1

The document contains homework questions and answers related to operating systems concepts like process states, system calls, interrupts, semaphores, and scheduling algorithms. It discusses how traps allow context switching between user and kernel mode and the differences between traps and interrupts. Resource utilization and timeliness are given as an example of conflicting design goals for an operating system.

Uploaded by

Khaled Ahmed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CS 111 - HW 1

Graham Greving
[email protected]

Ch 1 # 6, 7, 13, 14, 25

6. There are several design goals in building an operating system, for example:
resource utilization, timeliness, robustness and so on. Give an example of two
design goals that may contradict one another.

Timeliness and resource utilization could contradict each other. Managing


resources effectively (without collision or interruption) can result in processes
having longer wait times.

7. Which of the following instructions should be allowed only in kernel-mode?


(a) Disable all interrupts
(b) Read the time-of-day clock
(c) Set the time-of-day clock
(d) Change the memory map

All of the above. Except maybe read the time-of-day clock, I'm not sure about
that one.

13. What is a TRAP instruction? Explain it’s use in operating systems.


- A TRAP is a hardware interrupt
- A TRAP instruction makes the context switch from user-mode to kernel-mode,
and is used when a program in user-mode needs to execute a system call (routine
that can only be handled by the operating system) and then returns back to user-
mode to execute the next instruction
- Allows the computer to separate between kernel (OS) tasks and user tasks.

14. What is the key difference between a trap and an interrupt?

A trap a type of hardware interrupt, such as an invalid memory access or a


divide-by-zero condition. Whereas interrupts can be either software or hardware
signals.

25. To a programmer, a system call looks like any other call to a library
procedure. Is it important that a programmer know which library procedures result
in system calls? Under what circumstances and why?

Under all circumstances a programmer should understand which library routines


will force the computer into kernel-mode (requiring a context switch, which has a
large time penalty). For example, structuring programs to not execute reduntant I/O
calls within loops. Forcing a context switch in each iteration of a for-loop is
very bad for performance time.

Ch 2 # 1, 4, 11, 26, 36

1. In Fig. 2-2 [page 90], three process states are shown. In theory, with three
states, there could be six transitions, two out of each state. However, only four
transitions are shown. Are there any circumstances in which either or both of one
of the missing transitions might occur?

The other possibilities are:


a) Blocked -> Running
b) Ready -> Blocked
Option a) cannot happen since blocked processes must wait their turn to be
run just as any other process would. Option b) cannot happen since a Ready process
is not running, and therefore nothing can happen to it to make it Blocked.

4. When an interrupt or a system call transfers control to the operating system, a


kernel stack area separate from the stack of the interrupted process is generally
used. Why?

This is to preserve the state of the running program so it cannot "mess up"
any of the vital OS memory, and the OS cannot "mess up" any of the programs memory.
It also lets the OS execute more than one process at the /same time.

11. Why would a thread ever voluntarily give up the CPU by calling thread_yield?
After all, since there is no periodic clock interrupt, it may never get the CPU
back.

Since threads are created by the programmer, and there is no thread


"scheduler" (such as in the OS),it is in his/her best intention to not let one
thread run wild and hog the processes CPU time forever.
Additionally, to prevent a resource deadlock, it could be neccessary for a
thread to yield itself in order for the process to continue succesfully.

26. Show how counting semaphores (i.e., semaphores that can hold an arbitrary
value) can be implemented using only binary semaphores and ordinary machine
instructions.

You can use a mutex (binary semaphore) to increment or decrement a variable


through the Lock and Unlock mutex operations. Additionally, the TSL and XCHG
instructions, allow hardware protection to implement a mutex.

From the textbook (page 131):


mutex_lock:
TSL REG, MUTEX
CMP REG, #0
JZE ok
CALL thread_yield
JMP mutex_lock
RET
ok:

mutex_unlock:
MOVE MUTEX, #0
RET

Now, to implement a counting semaphore (in c, with mutex_lock and


mutext_unlock as defined in asm above):

mutex m; // mutex
int i; // counting semaphore

// To increment the semaphore


int increment(void) {
if (mutex_lock(m) {
i++;
mutex_unlock(m);
return (0);
}
return (-1);
}
// To decrement the semaphore
int decrement(void) {
if (mutex_lock(m)) {
i--;
mutex_unlock(m);
return (0);
}
return (-1);
}

36. Five jobs are waiting to be run. Their expected run times are 9,6,3,5, and X.
In what order should they run to minimize average response time? (Your answer will
depend on X)

It depends on the system and the scheduling algorithm being used. If this
were a batch system, then shortest-job-first algorithm produces the minimun
response time. In which case, depending on X, they would be run:
3,5,6,9
With X either at the front, end or in the middle somwhere depending on it's
runtime.
If the system were interactive, different algorithms could be used, most of
which aren't dependent on expected runtime, because in an interactive system that's
very hard to determine.

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