MIT 818 – Operating Systems

Technology
(August 2021)

Lecture 1 - Introduction and Overview

Operating Systems Technology -

Lecture 1 1
Course logistics and details
● Textbook
● Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition, Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne, Addison-
Wesley Inc (Eighth, Seventh,Sixth and Fifth editions, and Java Versions are fine ).

● Other Suggested Books

● Modern Operating Systems, by Tanenbaum
● Lubomir Bic, online book -- zybooks
● https://www.zybooks.com/catalog/operating-systems/
● Operating Systems: Principles and Practice, by T. Anderson and M. Dahlin
(second edition)
● Online resource
● https://www.tutorialspoint.com/operating_system/os_overview.htm

2
Course Outline
Introduction
 Introduction to Operating Systems, Computer System Structures,
Operating System Structures

● Process Management
• Processes and Threads, CPU Scheduling
• CPU Scheduling, Process Synchronization
• Process Synchronization
• Process Synchronization, Deadlocks

Introduction to Operating
Systems - Lecture 1 3
Course Outline
● Deadlocks

Storage Management
• Memory Management, Paging, Segmentation
• Virtual Memory

● File Systems
• Virtual Memory, File Systems Interface and Implementation

● I/O Subsystems
• File Systems, I/O, course revision and summary.

Introduction to Operating Systems

- Lecture 1 4
Goals of this Course
● Understand Operating System concepts
● How OS works, and more importantly, why?
● What are reasons motivated each design of OS?
● Why OS?
 Operating System training is important

 Must fulfill a requirement

 Software companies love OS students
 Most big software companies have system positions
 Academic research in OS is very influential

Introduction to Operating Systems

- Lecture 1 5
Introduction
● What is an operating system?
● Operating Systems History
● Simple Batch Systems
● Multiprogrammed Batch Systems
● Time-sharing Systems
● Personal Computer Systems
● Parallel and Distributed Systems
● Real-time Systems

Introduction to Operating Systems

- Lecture 1 6
What is an Operating System(OS)?
● An OS is a program that acts an intermediary
between the user of a computer and computer
hardware.
● An interface between users and hardware - an
environment "architecture”.
● Allows convenient usage; hides the tedious
stuff
● Allows efficient usage; parallel activity, avoids
wasted cycles
● Provides information protection
Introduction to Operating Systems
- Lecture 1 7
What is an Operating System(OS)?

Gives each user a slice of the resources(memory,
Input/Output devices, computation)

Acts as a control program.

Major cost of general purpose computing is software.

OS simplifies and manages the complexity of running
application programs efficiently.

The OS is “all the code that you didn’t have to write” to
implement your application

Or, OS is a piece of software that you shouldn’t notice
its existence, but you’ll feel the pain if it disappears or
goes wrong

Introduction to Operating Systems

- Lecture 1 8
Examples of OS

Some popular Operating Systems include

Linux Operating System

Windows Operating System

Others?

Introduction to Operating Systems

- Lecture 1 9
Computer System Components
● Hardware
● Provides basic computing resources (CPU, memory, I/O devices).

● Operating System
● Controls and coordinates the use of hardware among application programs.

● Application Programs
● Solve computing problems of users (compilers, database systems, video games,
business programs such as banking software).

● Users
● People, machines, other computers

Introduction to Operating Systems

- Lecture 1 10
Abstract View of a Computer
System

User
User
11 User User User
User
2
2
User
3
3
... User
n
n

compiler assembler Text editor Database

system
System
Systemand
andApplication
ApplicationPrograms
Programs

Operating
OperatingSystem
System

Computer
Computer
Hardware
Hardware

Introduction to Operating Systems

- Lecture 1 11
Abstract View of a Computer
System

Introduction to Operating Systems

- Lecture 1 12
Why should I study Operating
Systems?
● Need to understand the interaction between the
hardware and applications
● New applications, new hardware..
● Inherent aspect of society today
● Need to understand basic principles in the design of
computer systems
● efficient resource management, security, flexibility
● Increasing need for specialized operating systems
● e.g. embedded operating systems for devices - cell phones,
sensors and controllers
● real-time operating systems - aircraft control, multimedia
services
Introduction to Operating Systems
- Lecture 1 13
Goals of an Operating System
● Simplify the execution of user programs and
make solving user problems easier.
● Use computer hardware efficiently.
● Allow sharing of hardware and software resources.
● Make application software portable and
versatile.
● Provide isolation, security and protection
among user programs.
● Improve overall system reliability
● error confinement, fault tolerance, reconfiguration.
Introduction to Operating Systems
- Lecture 1 14
Operating system roles

• Referee
• Resource allocation among users, applications
• Isolation of different users, applications from each other
• Communication between users, applications
• Illusionist
• Each application appears to have the entire machine to itself
• Infinite number of processors, (near) infinite amount of
memory, reliable storage, reliable network transport
• Glue
• Libraries, user interface widgets, …
• Reduces cost of developing software

15
Example: file systems

• Referee
• Prevent users from accessing each other’s files without
permission
• Illusionist
• Files can grow (nearly) arbitrarily large
• Files persist even when the machine crashes in the middle of
a save
• Glue
• Named directories, printf, …

16
History of
Operating
Systems

17
History of Operating Systems

18
MarketShare of Operating
Systems

19
 Operating Systems Spectrum
● Monitors and Small Kernels
● special purpose and embedded systems, real-time systems
● Batch and multiprogramming
● Timesharing
● workstations, servers, minicomputers, timeframes
● Transaction systems
● Personal Computing Systems
● Mobile Platforms, devices (of all sizes)

20
 Types of OS

Single-user Operating System

Run on stand-alone microcomputers or PCs.

Manage the resources of that PC

Control all activities

Examples: MS-DOS, PC-DOS, Windows 3.1 e.t.c


Multi-User Operating System

Run on minicomputer systems (multi-users systems where
more than one user can work simultaneously)

Examples: PC-MOS and UNIX.


Network Operating System

Communication among the various systems and peripherals
on the network

Flow of data across the network and sharing of resources

Examples: Microsoft Windows Server 2008, UNIX and Linux

21
Functions of Operating Systems


Three principal functions
i. Allocation and assignment of system resources

input/output devices, software, central processing unit, etc.
ii. Scheduling: coordinates resources and jobs and follows
certain given priority.
iii. Monitoring:

keeps track of the activities in the computer system

maintains logs of job operation

notifies end-users or computer operators of any abnormal
terminations or error conditions

22
Functions of Operating Systems


Other functions
i. Memory Management – allocation and de-allocation of
memory space to programs
ii. Processor Management – create and delete processes
iii. Device Management – keep track of I/O devices
iv. File Management – storage, retreival, sharing etc
v. Security – pritection against malware, unauthorized access
vi. Control over system performance
vii. Job accounting – keeps track of resources and users
viii. Coordination between other software and users or
conditions

23
Shell and Kernel

Kernel

Core of the OS

Provides most of the functionality that the rest of the
system needs in order to function

Manages the communication between the software and
the hardware
Shell

an interpreter that understands commands in something
resembling common English and translates those
commands into a language the kernel understands

24
Summary

Operating System acts as a host for applications that are

run on the machine
Operating System comes with two interfaces - CLI and
GUI
Operating System is the software that controls the
allocation and usage of hardware resources such as:

memory

CPU time

disk space

input and output devices
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