Operating System

An Operating System (OS) is an interface between a computer user and computer

hardware. An operating system is a software which performs all the basic tasks like file
management, memory management, process management, handling input and output, and
controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers. Some popular Operating
Systems include Linux Operating System, Windows Operating System, VMS, OS/400, AIX,
z/OS, etc.

Definition

An operating system is a program that acts as an interface between the user and the
computer hardware and controls the execution of all kinds of programs.

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
Memory Management

Memory management refers to management of Primary Memory or Main Memory.

Main memory is a large array of words or bytes where each word or byte has its own
address.
Main memory provides a fast storage that can be accessed directly by the CPU. For a
program to be executed, it must in the main memory. An Operating System does the
following activities for memory management −
 Keeps tracks of primary memory, i.e., what part of it are in use by whom, what part
is not in use.
 In multiprogramming, the OS decides which process will get memory when and
how much.
 Allocates the memory when a process requests it to do so.
 De-allocates the memory when a process no longer needs it or has been terminated.

Processor Management

In multiprogramming environment, the OS decides which process gets the processor

when and for how much time. This function is called process scheduling. An Operating
System does the following activities for processor management −
 Keeps tracks of processor and status of process. The program responsible for this
task is known as traffic controller.
 Allocates the processor (CPU) to a process.
 De-allocates processor when a process is no longer required.

Device Management

An Operating System manages device communication via their respective drivers. It

does the following activities for device management −
 Keeps tracks of all devices. Program responsible for this task is known as the I/O
controller.
 Decides which process gets the device when and for how much time.
 Allocates the device in the efficient way.
 De-allocates devices.
File Management

A file system is normally organized into directories for easy navigation and usage.
These directories may contain files and other directions.
An Operating System does the following activities for file management −
 Keeps track of information, location, uses, status etc. The collective facilities are
often known as file system.
 Decides who gets the resources.
 Allocates the resources.
 De-allocates the resources.

Other Important Activities

Following are some of the important activities that an Operating System performs −
 Security − By means of password and similar other techniques, it prevents
unauthorized access to programs and data.
 Control over system performance − Recording delays between request for a
service and response from the system.
 Job accounting − Keeping track of time and resources used by various jobs and
users.
 Error detecting aids − Production of dumps, traces, error messages, and other
debugging and error detecting aids.
 Coordination between other softwares and users − Coordination and
assignment of compilers, interpreters, assemblers and other software to the
various users of the computer systems.

Operating System Structure

An operating system is a construct that allows the user application programs to
interact with the system hardware. Since the operating system is such a complex structure,
it should be created with utmost care so it can be used and modified easily. An easy way to
do this is to create the operating system in parts. Each of these parts should be well defined
with clear inputs, outputs and functions.
Simple Structure
There are many operating systems that have a rather simple structure. These
started as small systems and rapidly expanded much further than their scope. A common
example of this is MS-DOS. It was designed simply for a niche amount for people. There was
no indication that it would become so popular.
 It is better that operating systems have a modular structure, unlike MS-DOS. That
would lead to greater control over the computer system and its various applications. The
modular structure would also allow the programmers to hide information as required and
implement internal routines as they see fit without changing the outer specifications.
Layered Structure
One way to achieve modularity in the operating system is the layered approach. In
this, the bottom layer is the hardware and the topmost layer is the user interface.
From the image, each upper layer is built on the bottom layer. All the layers hide some
structures, operations etc from their upper layers.
One problem with the layered structure is that each layer needs to be carefully defined.
This is necessary because the upper layers can only use the functionalities of the layers
below them.

Operating System Operations

An operating system is a construct that allows the user application programs to
interact with the system hardware. Operating system by itself does not provide any
function but it provides an atmosphere in which different applications and programs can
do useful work.
The major operations of the operating system are process management, memory
management, device management and file management. These are given in detail as
follows:

Process Management
The operating system is responsible for managing the processes i.e assigning the
processor to a process at a time. This is known as process scheduling. The different
algorithms used for process scheduling are FCFS (first come first served), SJF (shortest job
first), priority scheduling, round robin scheduling etc.
 There are many scheduling queues that are used to handle processes in process
management. When the processes enter the system, they are put into the job queue. The
processes that are ready to execute in the main memory are kept in the ready queue. The
processes that are waiting for the I/O device are kept in the device queue.
Memory Management
Memory management plays an important part in operating system. It deals with
memory and the moving of processes from disk to primary memory for execution and back
again.
The activities performed by the operating system for memory management are −

 The operating system assigns memory to the processes as required. This can be
done using best fit, first fit and worst fit algorithms.
 All the memory is tracked by the operating system i.e. it nodes what memory parts
are in use by the processes and which are empty.
 The operating system deallocated memory from processes as required. This may
happen when a process has been terminated or if it no longer needs the memory.
Device Management
There are many I/O devices handled by the operating system such as mouse,
keyboard, disk drive etc. There are different device drivers that can be connected to the
operating system to handle a specific device. The device controller is an interface between
the device and the device driver. The user applications can access all the I/O devices using
the device drivers, which are device specific codes.
File Management
Files are used to provide a uniform view of data storage by the operating system. All
the files are mapped onto physical devices that are usually non volatile so data is safe in the
case of system failure.
The files can be accessed by the system in two ways i.e. sequential access and direct access
−

 Sequential Access
The information in a file is processed in order using sequential access. The files
records are accessed on after another. Most of the file systems such as editors,
compilers etc. use sequential access.

 Direct Access
In direct access or relative access, the files can be accessed in random for read and
write operations. The direct access model is based on the disk model of a file, since
it allows random accesses.
 Protection and Security
Protection and security requires that computer resources such as CPU, softwares,
memory etc. are protected. This extends to the operating system as well as the data in the
system. This can be done by ensuring integrity, confidentiality and availability in the
operating system. The system must be protect against unauthorized access, viruses, worms
etc.
Threats to Protection and Security
A threat is a program that is malicious in nature and leads to harmful effects for the
system. Some of the common threats that occur in a system are −
Virus
Viruses are generally small snippets of code embedded in a system. They are very
dangerous and can corrupt files, destroy data, crash systems etc. They can also spread
further by replicating themselves as required.
Trojan Horse
A trojan horse can secretly access the login details of a system. Then a malicious
user can use these to enter the system as a harmless being and wreak havoc.
Trap Door
A trap door is a security breach that may be present in a system without the
knowledge of the users. It can be exploited to harm the data or files in a system by
malicious people.
Worm
A worm can destroy a system by using its resources to extreme levels. It can
generate multiple copies which claim all the resources and don't allow any other processes
to access them. A worm can shut down a whole network in this way.
Denial of Service
These type of attacks do not allow the legitimate users to access a system. It
overwhelms the system with requests so it is overwhelmed and cannot work properly for
other user.
Protection and Security Methods
The different methods that may provide protect and security for different computer
systems are −
Authentication
This deals with identifying each user in the system and making sure they are who they
claim to be. The operating system makes sure that all the users are authenticated before
they access the system. The different ways to make sure that the users are authentic are:
  Username/ Password
Each user has a distinct username and password combination and they need to
enter it correctly before they can access the system.

 User Key/ User Card

The users need to punch a card into the card slot or use they individual key on a
keypad to access the system.

 User Attribute Identification

Different user attribute identifications that can be used are fingerprint, eye retina
etc. These are unique for each user and are compared with the existing samples in
the database. The user can only access the system if there is a match.
One Time Password
These passwords provide a lot of security for authentication purposes. A one time
password can be generated exclusively for a login every time a user wants to enter the
system. It cannot be used more than once. The various ways a one time password can be
implemented are −

 Random Numbers
The system can ask for numbers that correspond to alphabets that are pre arranged.
This combination can be changed each time a login is required.

 Secret Key
A hardware device can create a secret key related to the user id for login. This key
can change each time.

Difference Between Security and Protection

Security
 Security grants access to specific users of the system only.
 There are external security threats associated with the system.
 Convoluted queries are handled by security systems.
 Security uses mechanisms like encryption and authentication (also known as
certification) are used.
Protection
 It deals with the access to certain system resources.
 There are internal threats associated with protection of the system.
 Simple queries are handled in protection.
 It tries to determine the files that could be accessed or permeated by a special user.
 It implements authorization mechanism.
 Distributed operating System
A distributed system contains multiple nodes that are physically separate but linked
together using the network. All the nodes in this system communicate with each other and
handle processes in tandem. Each of these nodes contains a small part of the distributed
operating system software.

Types of Distributed Systems

The nodes in the distributed systems can be arranged in the form of client/server
systems or peer to peer systems. Details about these are as follows −
Client/Server Systems
In client server systems, the client requests a resource and the server provides that
resource. A server may serve multiple clients at the same time while a client is in contact
with only one server. Both the client and server usually communicate via a computer
network and so they are a part of distributed systems.
Peer to Peer Systems
The peer to peer systems contains nodes that are equal participants in data sharing.
All the tasks are equally divided between all the nodes. The nodes interact with each other
as required as share resources. This is done with the help of a network.
Advantages of Distributed Systems
  All the nodes in the distributed system are connected to each other. So nodes can
easily share data with other nodes.
 More nodes can easily be added to the distributed system i.e. it can be scaled as
required.
 Failure of one node does not lead to the failure of the entire distributed system.
Other nodes can still communicate with each other.
 Resources like printers can be shared with multiple nodes rather than being
restricted to just one.
Disadvantages of Distributed Systems

 It is difficult to provide adequate security in distributed systems because the nodes

as well as the connections need to be secured.
 Some messages and data can be lost in the network while moving from one node to
another.
 The database connected to the distributed systems is quite complicated and difficult
to handle as compared to a single user system.
 Overloading may occur in the network if all the nodes of the distributed system try
to send data at once.
Operating System - Services
An Operating System provides services to both the users and to the programs.

 It provides programs an environment to execute.

 It provides users the services to execute the programs in a convenient manner.
Following are a few common services provided by an operating system −

 Program execution
 I/O operations
 File System manipulation
 Communication
 Error Detection
 Resource Allocation
 Protection

Program execution

Operating systems handle many kinds of activities from user programs to system
programs like printer spooler, name servers, file server, etc. Each of these activities is
encapsulated as a process.
 A process includes the complete execution context (code to execute, data to
manipulate, registers, OS resources in use). Following are the major activities of an
operating system with respect to program management −

 Loads a program into memory.

 Executes the program.
 Handles program's execution.
 Provides a mechanism for process synchronization.
 Provides a mechanism for process communication.
 Provides a mechanism for deadlock handling.

I/O Operation

An I/O subsystem comprises of I/O devices and their corresponding driver

software. Drivers hide the peculiarities of specific hardware devices from the users.
An Operating System manages the communication between user and device drivers.

 I/O operation means read or write operation with any file or any specific I/O device.
 Operating system provides the access to the required I/O device when required.

File system manipulation

A file represents a collection of related information. Computers can store files on

the disk (secondary storage), for long-term storage purpose. Examples of storage media
include magnetic tape, magnetic disk and optical disk drives like CD, DVD. Each of these
media has its own properties like speed, capacity, data transfer rate and data access
methods.
A file system is normally organized into directories for easy navigation and usage.
These directories may contain files and other directions. Following are the major activities
of an operating system with respect to file management −

 Program needs to read a file or write a file.

 The operating system gives the permission to the program for operation on file.
 Permission varies from read-only, read-write, denied and so on.
 Operating System provides an interface to the user to create/delete files.
 Operating System provides an interface to the user to create/delete directories.
 Operating System provides an interface to create the backup of file system.

Communication

In case of distributed systems which are a collection of processors that do not share
memory, peripheral devices, or a clock, the operating system manages communications
between all the processes. Multiple processes communicate with one another through
communication lines in the network.
The OS handles routing and connection strategies, and the problems of contention and
security. Following are the major activities of an operating system with respect to
communication −

 Two processes often require data to be transferred between them

 Both the processes can be on one computer or on different computers, but are
connected through a computer network.
 Communication may be implemented by two methods, either by Shared Memory or
by Message Passing.

Error handling

Errors can occur anytime and anywhere. An error may occur in CPU, in I/O devices or
in the memory hardware. Following are the major activities of an operating system with
respect to error handling −

 The OS constantly checks for possible errors.

 The OS takes an appropriate action to ensure correct and consistent computing.

Resource Management

In case of multi-user or multi-tasking environment, resources such as main memory,

CPU cycles and files storage are to be allocated to each user or job. Following are the major
activities of an operating system with respect to resource management −

 The OS manages all kinds of resources using schedulers.

 CPU scheduling algorithms are used for better utilization of CPU.

Protection

Considering a computer system having multiple users and concurrent execution of

multiple processes, the various processes must be protected from each other's activities.
Protection refers to a mechanism or a way to control the access of programs, processes,
or users to the resources defined by a computer system. Following are the major activities
of an operating system with respect to protection −

 The OS ensures that all access to system resources is controlled.

 The OS ensures that external I/O devices are protected from invalid access attempts.
 The OS provides authentication features for each user by means of passwords.
 System Calls
The interface between a process and an operating system is provided by system
calls. In general, system calls are available as assembly language instructions. They are also
included in the manuals used by the assembly level programmers. System calls are usually
made when a process in user mode requires access to a resource. Then it requests the
kernel to provide the resource via a system call.

As can be seen from this diagram, the processes execute normally in the user mode until a
system call interrupts this. Then the system call is executed on a priority basis in the kernel
mode. After the execution of the system call, the control returns to the user mode and
execution of user processes can be resumed.
In general, system calls are required in the following situations −

 If a file system requires the creation or deletion of files. Reading and writing from
files also require a system call.
 Creation and management of new processes.
 Network connections also require system calls. This includes sending and receiving
packets.
 Access to a hardware devices such as a printer, scanner etc. requires a system call.

Types of System Calls

Process Control
These system calls deal with processes such as process creation, process
termination etc.
File Management
These system calls are responsible for file manipulation such as creating a file,
reading a file, writing into a file etc.
Device Management
These system calls are responsible for device manipulation such as reading from
device buffers, writing into device buffers etc.
Information Maintenance
These system calls handle information and its transfer between the operating
system and the user program.
Communication
These system calls are useful for interprocess communication. They also deal with
creating and deleting a communication connection.
Some of the examples of all the above types of system calls in Windows and Unix are
given as follows −

Types of System Calls Windows Linux

CreateProcess() fork()
Process Control ExitProcess() exit()
WaitForSingleObject() wait()

CreateFile() open()
ReadFile() read()
File Management
WriteFile() write()
CloseHandle() close()

SetConsoleMode() ioctl()
Device Management ReadConsole() read()
WriteConsole() write()

GetCurrentProcessID() getpid()
Information Maintenance SetTimer() alarm()
Sleep() sleep()

CreatePipe() pipe()
Communication CreateFileMapping() shmget()
MapViewOfFile() mmap()

open()
 The open() system call is used to provide access to a file in a file system. This system
call allocates resources to the file and provides a handle that the process uses to refer to
the file. A file can be opened by multiple processes at the same time or be restricted to one
process. It all depends on the file organisation and file system.
read()
The read() system call is used to access data from a file that is stored in the file
system. The file to read can be identified by its file descriptor and it should be opened using
open() before it can be read. In general, the read() system calls takes three arguments i.e.
the file descriptor, buffer which stores read data and number of bytes to be read from the
file.
write()
The write() system calls writes the data from a user buffer into a device such as a
file. This system call is one of the ways to output data from a program. In general, the write
system calls takes three arguments i.e. file descriptor, pointer to the buffer where data is
stored and number of bytes to write from the buffer.
close()
The close() system call is used to terminate access to a file system. Using this system
call means that the file is no longer required by the program and so the buffers are flushed,
the file metadata is updated and the file resources are de-allocated.

System Programs

System programs provide an environment where programs can be developed and

executed. In the simplest sense, system programs also provide a bridge between the user
interface and system calls. In reality, they are much more complex. For example, a compiler
is a complex system program.
System Programs Purpose
The system program serves as a part of the operating system. It traditionally lies
between the user interface and the system calls. The user view of the system is actually
defined by system programs and not system calls because that is what they interact with
and system programs are closer to the user interface.
In the image, system programs as well as application programs form a bridge
between the user interface and the system calls. So, from the user view the operating
system observed is actually the system programs and not the system calls.
Types of System Programs
System programs can be divided into seven parts. These are given as follows:
Status Information
The status information system programs provide required data on the current or
past status of the system. This may include the system date, system time, available memory
in system, disk space, logged in users etc.
Communications
These system programs are needed for system communications such as web
browsers. Web browsers allow systems to communicate and access information from the
network as required.
File Manipulation
These system programs are used to manipulate system files. This can be done using
various commands like create, delete, copy, rename, print etc. These commands can create
files, delete files, copy the contents of one file into another, rename files, print them etc.
Program Loading and Execution
The system programs that deal with program loading and execution make sure that
programs can be loaded into memory and executed correctly. Loaders and Linkers are a
prime example of this type of system programs.
File Modification
System programs that are used for file modification basically change the data in the
file or modify it in some other way. Text editors are a big example of file modification
system programs.
Application Programs
Application programs can perform a wide range of services as per the needs of the
users. These include programs for database systems, word processors, plotting tools,
spreadsheets, games, scientific applications etc.
Programming Language Support
These system programs provide additional support features for different
programming languages. Some examples of these are compilers, debuggers etc. These
compile a program and make sure it is error free respectively.

Process concepts
A process is basically a program in execution. The execution of a process must
progress in a sequential fashion.
A process is defined as an entity which represents the basic unit of work to be
implemented in the system.To put it in simple terms, we write our computer programs in a
text file and when we execute this program, it becomes a process which performs all the
tasks mentioned in the program.

When a program is loaded into the memory and it becomes a process, it can be
divided into four sections ─ stack, heap, text and data. The following image shows a
simplified layout of a process inside main memory −
S.N Component & Description
.

1 Stack
The process Stack contains the temporary data such as method/function
parameters, return address and local variables.

2 Heap
This is dynamically allocated memory to a process during its run time.

3 Text
This includes the current activity represented by the value of Program
Counter and the contents of the processor's registers.

4 Data
This section contains the global and static variables.
Program

A program is a piece of code which may be a single line or millions of lines. A

computer program is usually written by a computer programmer in a programming
language. For example, here is a simple program written in C programming language −

#include<stdio.h>

int main(){
printf("Hello, World! \n");
return0;
}
A computer program is a collection of instructions that performs a specific task
when executed by a computer. When we compare a program with a process, we can
conclude that a process is a dynamic instance of a computer program.
A part of a computer program that performs a well-defined task is known as
an algorithm. A collection of computer programs, libraries and related data are referred
to as a software.

Process Life Cycle

When a process executes, it passes through different states. These stages may differ
in different operating systems, and the names of these states are also not standardized.
In general, a process can have one of the following five states at a time.

S.N State & Description

.

1 Start
This is the initial state when a process is first started/created.

2 Ready
The process is waiting to be assigned to a processor. Ready processes are
waiting to have the processor allocated to them by the operating system so
that they can run. Process may come into this state after Start state or while
running it by but interrupted by the scheduler to assign CPU to some other
process.

3 Running
 Once the process has been assigned to a processor by the OS scheduler, the
process state is set to running and the processor executes its instructions.

4 Waiting
Process moves into the waiting state if it needs to wait for a resource, such as
waiting for user input, or waiting for a file to become available.

5 Terminated or Exit
Once the process finishes its execution, or it is terminated by the operating
system, it is moved to the terminated state where it waits to be removed from
main memory.

Process Control Block (PCB)

A Process Control Block is a data structure maintained by the Operating System for
every process. The PCB is identified by an integer process ID (PID). A PCB keeps all the
information needed to keep track of a process as listed below in the table −

S.N Information & Description

.

1 Process State
The current state of the process i.e., whether it is ready, running, waiting, or
whatever.

2 Process privileges
 This is required to allow/disallow access to system resources.

3 Process ID
Unique identification for each of the process in the operating system.

4 Pointer
A pointer to parent process.

5 Program Counter
Program Counter is a pointer to the address of the next instruction to be
executed for this process.

6 CPU registers
Various CPU registers where process need to be stored for execution for
running state.

7 CPU Scheduling Information

Process priority and other scheduling information which is required to
schedule the process.

8 Memory management information

This includes the information of page table, memory limits, Segment table
depending on memory used by the operating system.

9 Accounting information
This includes the amount of CPU used for process execution, time limits,
execution ID etc.

10 IO status information
This includes a list of I/O devices allocated to the process.
 The architecture of a PCB is completely dependent on Operating System and may
contain different information in different operating systems. Here is a simplified diagram
of a PCB −

The PCB is maintained for a process throughout its lifetime, and is deleted once the
process terminates.

Process Scheduling
The process scheduling is the activity of the process manager that handles the
removal of the running process from the CPU and the selection of another process on the
basis of a particular strategy.
Process scheduling is an essential part of a Multiprogramming operating systems.
Such operating systems allow more than one process to be loaded into the executable
memory at a time and the loaded process shares the CPU using time multiplexing.

Process Scheduling Queues

The OS maintains all PCBs in Process Scheduling Queues. The OS maintains a

separate queue for each of the process states and PCBs of all processes in the same
execution state are placed in the same queue. When the state of a process is changed, its
PCB is unlinked from its current queue and moved to its new state queue.
The Operating System maintains the following important process scheduling queues −
  Job queue − This queue keeps all the processes in the system.
 Ready queue − This queue keeps a set of all processes residing in main memory,
ready and waiting to execute. A new process is always put in this queue.
 Device queues − The processes which are blocked due to unavailability of an I/O
device constitute this queue.

The OS can use different policies to manage each queue (FIFO, Round Robin,
Priority, etc.). The OS scheduler determines how to move processes between the ready
and run queues which can only have one entry per processor core on the system; in the
above diagram, it has been merged with the CPU.

Two-State Process Model

Two-state process model refers to running and non-running states which are described
below −

S.N State & Description

.

1 Running
When a new process is created, it enters into the system as in the running
state.

2 Not Running
Processes that are not running are kept in queue, waiting for their turn to
execute. Each entry in the queue is a pointer to a particular process. Queue is
implemented by using linked list. Use of dispatcher is as follows. When a
 process is interrupted, that process is transferred in the waiting queue. If the
process has completed or aborted, the process is discarded. In either case, the
dispatcher then selects a process from the queue to execute.

Schedulers

Schedulers are special system software which handle process scheduling in various
ways. Their main task is to select the jobs to be submitted into the system and to decide
which process to run. Schedulers are of three types −

 Long-Term Scheduler
 Short-Term Scheduler
 Medium-Term Scheduler

Long Term Scheduler

It is also called a job scheduler. A long-term scheduler determines which programs

are admitted to the system for processing. It selects processes from the queue and loads
them into memory for execution. Process loads into the memory for CPU scheduling.
The primary objective of the job scheduler is to provide a balanced mix of jobs, such
as I/O bound and processor bound. It also controls the degree of multiprogramming. If the
degree of multiprogramming is stable, then the average rate of process creation must be
equal to the average departure rate of processes leaving the system.
On some systems, the long-term scheduler may not be available or minimal. Time-
sharing operating systems have no long term scheduler. When a process changes the state
from new to ready, then there is use of long-term scheduler.

Short Term Scheduler

It is also called as CPU scheduler. Its main objective is to increase system

performance in accordance with the chosen set of criteria. It is the change of ready state to
running state of the process. CPU scheduler selects a process among the processes that are
ready to execute and allocates CPU to one of them.
Short-term schedulers, also known as dispatchers, make the decision of which
process to execute next. Short-term schedulers are faster than long-term schedulers.

Medium Term Scheduler

Medium-term scheduling is a part of swapping. It removes the processes from the

memory. It reduces the degree of multiprogramming. The medium-term scheduler is in-
charge of handling the swapped out-processes.
 A running process may become suspended if it makes an I/O request. A suspended
processes cannot make any progress towards completion. In this condition, to remove the
process from memory and make space for other processes, the suspended process is
moved to the secondary storage. This process is called swapping, and the process is said
to be swapped out or rolled out. Swapping may be necessary to improve the process mix.

Comparison among Scheduler

S.N Long-Term Scheduler Short-Term Medium-Term

. Scheduler Scheduler

1 It is a job scheduler It is a CPU scheduler It is a process swapping

scheduler.

2 Speed is lesser than Speed is fastest among Speed is in between both

short term scheduler other two short and long term
scheduler.

3 It controls the degree of It provides lesser It reduces the degree of

multiprogramming control over degree of multiprogramming.
multiprogramming

4 It is almost absent or It is also minimal in It is a part of Time

minimal in time sharing time sharing system sharing systems.
system

5 It selects processes from It selects those It can re-introduce the

pool and loads them into processes which are process into memory and
memory for execution ready to execute execution can be
continued.

Context Switch
A context switch is the mechanism to store and restore the state or context of a CPU
in Process Control block so that a process execution can be resumed from the same point
at a later time. Using this technique, a context switcher enables multiple processes to
share a single CPU. Context switching is an essential part of a multitasking operating
system features.
 When the scheduler switches the CPU from executing one process to execute
another, the state from the current running process is stored into the process control
block. After this, the state for the process to run next is loaded from its own PCB and used
to set the PC, registers, etc. At that point, the second process can start executing.

Context switches are computationally intensive since register and memory state must
be saved and restored. To avoid the amount of context switching time, some hardware
systems employ two or more sets of processor registers. When the process is switched,
the following information is stored for later use.

 Program Counter
 Scheduling information
 Base and limit register value
  Currently used register
 Changed State
 I/O State information
 Accounting information
Operations on Processes
There are many operations that can be performed on processes. Some of these are
process creation, process preemption, process blocking, and process termination. These
are given in detail as follows −
Process Creation
Processes need to be created in the system for different operations. This can be done by the
following events −

 User request for process creation

 System initialization
 Execution of a process creation system call by a running process
 Batch job initialization
A process may be created by another process using fork(). The creating process is called
the parent process and the created process is the child process. A child process can have
only one parent but a parent process may have many children. Both the parent and child
processes have the same memory image, open files, and environment strings. However,
they have distinct address spaces.
Process Preemption
An interrupt mechanism is used in preemption that suspends the process executing
currently and the next process to execute is determined by the short-term scheduler.
Preemption makes sure that all processes get some CPU time for execution.

Process Blocking
The process is blocked if it is waiting for some event to occur. This event may be I/O as the
I/O events are executed in the main memory and don't require the processor. After the
event is complete, the process again goes to the ready state.
Process Termination
After the process has completed the execution of its last instruction, it is terminated.
The resources held by a process are released after it is terminated.
A child process can be terminated by its parent process if its task is no longer relevant. The
child process sends its status information to the parent process before it terminates. Also,
when a parent process is terminated, its child processes are terminated as well as the child
processes cannot run if the parent processes are terminated.

Cooperating Process
Cooperating processes are those that can affect or are affected by other processes
running on the system. Cooperating processes may share data with each other.
Reasons for needing cooperating processes
There may be many reasons for the requirement of cooperating processes. Some of these
are given as follows −

 Modularity
Modularity involves dividing complicated tasks into smaller subtasks. These
subtasks can completed by different cooperating processes. This leads to faster and
more efficient completion of the required tasks.

 Information Sharing
Sharing of information between multiple processes can be accomplished using
cooperating processes. This may include access to the same files. A mechanism is
required so that the processes can access the files in parallel to each other.

 Convenience
There are many tasks that a user needs to do such as compiling, printing, editing etc.
It is convenient if these tasks can be managed by cooperating processes.

 Computation Speedup
Subtasks of a single task can be performed parallely using cooperating processes.
This increases the computation speedup as the task can be executed faster.
However, this is only possible if the system has multiple processing elements.
Methods of Cooperation
Cooperating processes can coordinate with each other using shared data or messages.
Details about these are given as follows −

 Cooperation by Sharing
 The cooperating processes can cooperate with each other using shared data such as
memory, variables, files, databases etc. Critical section is used to provide data
integrity and writing is mutually exclusive to prevent inconsistent data.

In the above diagram, Process P1 and P2 can cooperate with each other using
shared data such as memory, variables, files, databases etc.

 Cooperation by Communication
The cooperating processes can cooperate with each other using messages. This may
lead to deadlock if each process is waiting for a message from the other to perform a
operation. Starvation is also possible if a process never receives a message.
In the above diagram, Process P1 and P2 can cooperate with each other using messages to
communicate.

Interprocess Communication
Interprocess communication is the mechanism provided by the operating system
that allows processes to communicate with each other. This communication could involve a
process letting another process know that some event has occurred or the transferring of
data from one process to another.

Synchronization in Interprocess Communication

Synchronization is a necessary part of interprocess communication. It is either
provided by the interprocess control mechanism or handled by the communicating
processes. Some of the methods to provide synchronization are as follows −

 Semaphore
A semaphore is a variable that controls the access to a common resource by multiple
processes. The two types of semaphores are binary semaphores and counting
semaphores.

 Mutual Exclusion
Mutual exclusion requires that only one process thread can enter the critical section
at a time. This is useful for synchronization and also prevents race conditions.

 Barrier
A barrier does not allow individual processes to proceed until all the processes
reach it. Many parallel languages and collective routines impose barriers.

 Spinlock
This is a type of lock. The processes trying to acquire this lock wait in a loop while
checking if the lock is available or not. This is known as busy waiting because the
process is not doing any useful operation even though it is active.
Approaches to Interprocess Communication
The different approaches to implement interprocess communication are given as follows −

 Pipe
A pipe is a data channel that is unidirectional. Two pipes can be used to create a
two-way data channel between two processes. This uses standard input and output
methods. Pipes are used in all POSIX systems as well as Windows operating systems.

 Socket
The socket is the endpoint for sending or receiving data in a network. This is true for
data sent between processes on the same computer or data sent between different
computers on the same network. Most of the operating systems use sockets for
interprocess communication.

 File
A file is a data record that may be stored on a disk or acquired on demand by a file
server. Multiple processes can access a file as required. All operating systems use
files for data storage.

 Signal
Signals are useful in interprocess communication in a limited way. They are system
messages that are sent from one process to another. Normally, signals are not used
to transfer data but are used for remote commands between processes.

 Shared Memory
Shared memory is the memory that can be simultaneously accessed by multiple
processes. This is done so that the processes can communicate with each other. All
POSIX systems, as well as Windows operating systems use shared memory.

 Message Queue
Multiple processes can read and write data to the message queue without being
connected to each other. Messages are stored in the queue until their recipient
retrieves them. Message queues are quite useful for interprocess communication
and are used by most operating systems.
A diagram that demonstrates message queue and shared memory methods of interprocess
communication is as follows −