TAITA TAVETA UNIVERSITY

SIC 2141 – Operating System

Session 2: Functions of Operating System

Session Topics
Topics to be covered in this sessions:
 Multiprogramming,
 Resource Allocation and Management and Their Implementation,
 Supervisory Services,
 Memory Management
 Data Management Services

Learning Objectives
The purpose of this session is to help you understand functions of an operating system in an electronic
device such as the computer and mobiles devices that use operating system. How operating system
manages memory, data and how it allocates other resources.

Session 2: Functions of Operating System

Firstly, open an MSWord document to type a brief description of the answers from your web searches.
Remember to continually save your document. Second, using Chapter 1 of your textbook (Andrew
Tanenbaum, Herbert Bos, 2014, Modern Operating Systems, Pearson; 4th Edition. ISBN-
10: 013359162X), the links below and any of your favorite search engines and sites as a guide:

a) https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/functions-of-operating-system/
b) https://www.tutorialspoint.com/operating_system/os_properties.htm
c) https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/resource-allocation-techniques-for-processes/

Focus Task 2.1

a) What is the relationship between operating systems and computer hardware?

b) How Buffering can improve the performance of a Computer system?

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 Focus Task 2.2
a) What are the primary differences between Network Operating System and Distributed
Operating System?

b) What inconveniences that a user can face while interacting with a computer system,
which is without an operating system?

Focus Task 2.3

a) What is the Difference between a Job and a Process?
b) What are the advantages of multiprogramming?
c) What are the advantages of Multiprocessing or Parallel System?

Overview of the functions of Operating Systems

An Operating System acts as a communication bridge (interface) between the user and computer
hardware. The purpose of an operating system is to provide a platform on which a user can execute
programs in a convenient and efficient manner.

An operating system is a piece of software that manages the allocation of computer hardware. The
coordination of the hardware must be appropriate to ensure the correct working of the computer system
and to prevent user programs from interfering with the proper working of the system.

Example: Just like a boss gives order to his employee, in the similar way we request or pass our orders
to the Operating System. The main goal of the Operating System is to thus make the computer
environment more convenient to use and the secondary goal is to use the resources in the most efficient
manner.

Essential Reading

 Andrew Tanenbaum, Herbert Bos, 2014, Modern Operating Systems, Pearson; 4th Edition. ISBN-
10: 013359162X, ISBN-13: 978-0133591620

Functions of Operating System

What is Operating System?

An operating system is a program on which application programs are executed and acts as a
communication bridge (interface) between the user and the computer hardware.

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The main task an operating system carries out is the allocation of resources and services, such as
allocation of: memory, devices, processors and information. The operating system also includes programs
to manage these resources, such as a traffic controller, a scheduler, memory management module, I/O
programs, and a file system.

Following are some of important functions of an operating System.

 Memory Management
 Processor Management
 Device Management
 File Management
 Security
 Control over system performance
 Job accounting
 Error detecting aids
 Coordination between other software and users

Important functions of an operating System:

1. Security –The operating system uses password protection to protect user data and similar
other techniques. it also prevents unauthorized access to programs and user data.
2. Control over system performance – Monitors overall system health to help improve
performance. records the response time between service requests and system response
to have a complete view of the system health. This can help improve performance by
providing important information needed to troubleshoot problems.

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 3. Job accounting – Operating system Keeps track of time and resources used by various
tasks and users, this information can be used to track resource usage for a particular user
or group of user.

4. Error detecting aids – Operating system constantly monitors the system to detect
errors and avoid the malfunctioning of computer system.
5. Coordination between other software and users – Operating systems also coordinate
and assign interpreters, compilers, assemblers and other software to the various users
of the computer systems.
6. Memory Management – The operating system manages the Primary Memory or Main
Memory. Main memory is made up of a large array of bytes or words where each byte or
word is assigned a certain address. Main memory is a fast storage and it can be
accessed directly by the CPU.
For a program to be executed, it should be first loaded in the main memory. An Operating
System performs the following activities for memory management:
- It keeps tracks of primary memory, i.e., which bytes of memory are used by which user
program. The memory addresses that have already been allocated and the memory
addresses of the memory that has not yet been used.
- In multi programming, the OS decides the order in which process are granted access to
memory, and for how long.
- It Allocates the memory to a process when the process requests it and deallocates the
memory when the process has terminated or is performing an I/O operation.

7. Processor Management – In a multi programming environment, the OS decides the

order in which processes have access to the processor, and how much processing time
each process has. This function of OS is called process scheduling. An Operating
System performs the following activities for processor management.
Keeps tracks of the status of processes. The program which perform this task is known as
traffic controller. Allocates the CPU that is processor to a process. De-allocates processor
when a process is no more required.

8. Device Management – An OS manages device communication via their respective

drivers. It performs the following activities for device management. Keeps tracks of all
devices connected to system. designates a program responsible for every device known
as the Input/output controller. Decides which process gets access to a certain device

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 and for how long. Allocates devices in an effective and efficient way. Deallocates
devices when they are no longer required.
9. File Management – A file system is organized into directories for efficient or easy
navigation and usage. These directories may contain other directories and other files. An
Operating System carries out the following file management activities. It keeps track of
where information is stored, user access settings and status of every file and more.
These facilities are collectively known as the file system

Moreover, Operating System also provides certain services to the computer system in one form
or the other. The Operating System provides certain services to the users which can be listed in
the following manner:

1. Program Execution: The Operating System is responsible for execution of all types of
programs whether it be user programs or system programs. The Operating System utilizes
various resources available for the efficient running of all types of functionalities.
2. Handling Input/output Operations: The Operating System is responsible for handling all
sort of inputs, i.e., from keyboard, mouse, desktop, etc. The Operating System does all
interfacing in the most appropriate manner regrading all kind of Inputs and Outputs.
For example, there is difference in nature of all types of peripheral devices such as mouse
or keyboard, then Operating System is responsible for handling data between them.
3. Manipulation of File System: The Operating System is responsible for making of
decisions regarding the storage of all types of data or files, i.e., floppy disk/hard disk/pen
drive, etc. The Operating System decides as how should the data should be manipulated
and stored.
4. Error Detection and Handling: The Operating System is responsible for detection of any
types of error or bugs that can occur while any task. The well secured OS sometimes also
acts as countermeasure for preventing any sort of breach to the Computer System from
any external source and probably handling them.
5. Resource Allocation: The Operating System ensures the proper use of all the resources
available by deciding which resource to be used by whom for how much time. All the
decisions are taken by the Operating System.
6. Accounting: The Operating System tracks an account of all the functionalities taking
place in the computer system at a time. All the details such as the types of errors occurred
are recorded by the Operating System.

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 7. Information and Resource Protection: The Operating System is responsible for using all
the information and resources available on the machine in the most protected way. The
Operating System must foil an attempt from any external resource to hamper any sort of
data or information.
8. User Interface

Usually Operating system comes in three forms or types. Depending on the interface their types
have been further subdivided. These are:

 Command line interface

 Batch based interface
 Graphical User Interface

The command line interface (CLI) usually deals with using text commands and a technique for
entering those commands. The batch interface (BI): commands and directives are used to
manage those commands that are entered into files and those files get executed. Another type
is the graphical user interface (GUI): which is a window system with a pointing device (like
mouse or trackball) to point to the I/O, choose from menus driven interface and to make choices
viewing from a number of lists and a keyboard to entry the texts.

Summary
All these services are ensured by the Operating System for the convenience of the users to
make the programming task easier. All different kinds of Operating System more or less provide
the same services.