CAP368 (SYSTEM PROGRAMMING)

HOME WORK – I

Part A
Q 1. System software is different from operating system.
How?
Ans:
System software is computer software designed to operate the
computer hardware and to provide and maintain a platform for
running application software.
• Systems software refers to the Operating System and all
utility programs (like Compiler, Loader, Linker, and
Debugger) that manage computer resources at a low level.
• Systems software refers to the Operating System and all
utility programs (like Compiler, Loader, Linker, and
Debugger) that manage computer resources at a low level.
• A term for a complicated set of programs that act together
to allow a computer, and other programs, to function.
• The software that controls the operations of a computer
system. It is a group of programs rather than one program.
Operating system has the following conditions which satisfy the
conditions of being a system:
• Multi-user: Allows two or more users to run programs at
the same time. Some operating systems permit hundreds or
even thousands of concurrent users.
• Multiprocessing: Supports running a program on more
than one CPU.
• Multitasking: Allows more than one program to run
concurrently.
• Multithreading: Allows different parts of a single program
to run concurrently.
• Real time: Responds to input instantly. General-purpose
operating systems, such as DOS and UNIX, are not real-
time.
Operating systems provide a software platform on top of which
other programs, called application programs, can run. The
application programs must be written to run on top of a particular
operating system. Your choice of operating system, therefore,
determines to a great extent the applications you can run. For PCs,
the most popular operating systems are DOS, OS/2, and Windows,
but others are available, such as Linux.

As a user, you normally interact with the operating system through

a set of commands. For example, the DOS operating system
contains commands such as COPY and RENAME for copying files and
changing the names of files, respectively. The commands are
accepted and executed by a part of the operating system called the
command processor or command line interpreter. Graphical user
interfaces allow you to enter commands by pointing and clicking at
objects that appear on the screen.

Q 2 . Operating system rules the system give your

comments? Give its architectural details?
Ans:
To put it in the simplest of words, an operating system is a
computer program written to make the computer understandable
to the User who does not know the assembly level language of
the computer.
Rules of Operating System

1. Management of the Processor

2. Management of the R.A.M

3. Management of the Input/output

4. Management of the Execution of Application

5. Management of the Authorization

6. File Management
Simple view:
 The computer architecture of a computing system defines its
attributes as seen by the programs that are executed in that
system, that is, the conceptual structure and functional behaviour
of the machine hardware. Then, the computer architect defines
the functions to be executed in the hardware and the protocol to
be used by the software in order to exploit such functions. Note
that the architecture has nothing to do with the organization of
the data flow, the logical design, the physical design, and the
performance of any particular implementation in the hardware.
An Operating System is the layer between the hardware and
software, as in

Kernel

The kernel of an operating system is the part responsible for all other
operations. When a computer boots up, it goes through some
initialisation functions, such as checking memory. It then loads the
kernel and switches control to it. The kernel then starts up all the
processes needed to communicate with the user and the rest of the
environment (e.g. the LAN)

The kernel is always loaded into memory, and kernel functions always
run, handling processes, memory, files and devices.

The traditional structure of a kernel is a layered system, such as Unix.

In this, all layers are part of the kernel, and each layer can talk to only
a few other layers. Application programs and utilities live above the
kernel. The Unix kernel looks like

Most of the Operating Systems being built now use instead a micro
kernel, which minimises the size of the kernel. Many traditional
services are made into user level services. Communication being
services is often by an explicit message passing mechanism.

The major micro-kernel Operating System is Mach. Many others use

the concepts of Mach.

 Q 3. Assemblers, compilers, linker and loader are termed as
programming systems? Give examples?
Ans:
Part B
Q 4. Give application areas of various types of operating
system with examples?
Ans:
An operating system (OS) is an interface between hardware and
user, which is responsible for the management and coordination of
activities and the sharing of the resources of a computer, that acts as a
host for computing applications run on the machine. One of the
purposes of an operating system is to handle the resource allocation
and access protection of the hardware.
The different types of operating systems are as under:
• Real-time operating system (RTOS) - Real-time operating
systems are used to control machinery, scientific instruments
and industrial systems. An RTOS typically has very little user-
interface capability, and no end-user utilities, since the system
will be a "sealed box" when delivered for use. A very important
part of an RTOS is managing the resources of the computer so
that a particular operation executes in precisely the same
amount of time, every time it occurs. In a complex machine,
having a part move more quickly just because system
 resources are available may be just as catastrophic as having
it not move at all because the system is busy.

• Single-user, single task - As the name implies, this

operating system is designed to manage the computer so that
one user can effectively do one thing at a time. The Palm OS
for Palm handheld computers is a good example of a modern
single-user, single-task operating system.

• Single-user, multi-tasking - This is the type of operating

system most people use on their desktop and laptop
computers today. Microsoft's Windows and Apple's MacOS
platforms are both examples of operating systems that will let
a single user have several programs in operation at the same
time. For example, it's entirely possible for a Windows user to
be writing a note in a word processor while downloading a file
from the Internet while printing the text of an e-mail message.

• Multi-user - A multi-user operating system allows many

different users to take advantage of the computer's resources
simultaneously. The operating system must make sure that
the requirements of the various users are balanced, and that
each of the programs they are using has sufficient and
separate resources so that a problem with one user doesn't
affect the entire community of users. Unix, VMS and
mainframe operating systems, such as MVS, are examples of
multi-user operating systems.

Q 5. Operating system can be divided into how many parts

give details of each?
Ans:
The operating system's tasks, in the most general sense, fall into six
categories:

•Processor management:
The basic unit of software that the operating system deals with in
scheduling the work done by the processor is either a process or a
thread, depending on the operating system.
It's tempting to think of a process as an application, but that gives an
incomplete picture of how processes relate to the operating system
and hardware. The application you see (word processor, spreadsheet
or game) is, indeed, a process, but that application may cause several
other processes to begin, for tasks like communications with other
devices or other computers
•Memory storage and management:

When an operating system manages the computer's memory, there

are two broad tasks to be accomplished:
 Each process must have enough memory in which to execute,
and it can neither run into the memory space of another
process nor be run into by another process.
 The different types of memory in the system must be used
properly so that each process can run most effectively.
The first task requires the operating system to set up memory
boundaries for types of software and for individual applications.

As an example, let's look at an imaginary small system with 1

megabyte (1,000 kilobytes) of RAM. During the boot process, the
operating system of our imaginary computer is designed to go to the
top of available memory and then "back up" far enough to meet the
needs of the operating system itself. Let's say that the operating
system needs 300 kilobytes to run. Now, the operating system goes to
the bottom of the pool of RAM and starts building up with the various
driver software required to control the hardware subsystems of the
computer. In our imaginary computer, the drivers take up 200
kilobytes. So after getting the operating system completely loaded,
there are 500 kilobytes remaining for application processes.
•Device management:
The path between the operating system and virtually all hardware not
on the computer's motherboard goes through a special program called
a driver. Much of a driver's function is to be the translator between the
electrical signals of the hardware subsystems and the high-level
programming languages of the operating system and application
programs. Drivers take data that the operating system has defined as
a file and translate them into streams of bits placed in specific
locations on storage devices, or a series of laser pulses in a printer.
•Application interface:
Just as drivers provide a way for applications to make use of
hardware subsystems without having to know every detail of the
hardware's operation, application program interfaces (APIs) let
application programmers use functions of the computer and
operating system without having to directly keep track of all the
details in the CPU's operation. Let's look at the example of creating
a hard disk file for holding data to see why this can be important.
•User interface:
In the end user interface provides the platform to the user to
interact with the computer or any type of machine. Just as the API
provides a consistent way for applications to use the resources of
the computer system, a user interface (UI) brings structure to the
interaction between a user and the computer. In the last decade,
almost all development in user interfaces has been in the area of
the graphical user interface (GUI), with two models, Apple's
Macintosh and Microsoft's Windows, receiving most of the attention
and gaining most of the market share. The popular open-source
Linux operating system also supports a graphical user interface.
Q 6. Machine language differs from assembly language give
examples? Write a program to display your name using
any of machine languages?
Ans: