COMPUTER SCIENCE

SYSTEM SOFTWARE
BY: SOLOMON KIPNGETICH
0727091924

INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEM SOFTWARE AND

MACHINE STRUCTURE

There are two broad categories of software:

 System Software
 Application Software

System Software is a set of programs that manage the resources of a computer system. System
Software is a collection of system programs that perform a variety of functions.

• File Editing
• Resource Accounting I/O Management
• Storage, Memory Management access management.

System Software can be broadly classified into three types as:

System control programs controls the execution of programs, manage the storage & processing
resources of the computer & perform other management & monitoring function. The most
important of these programs is the operating system. Other examples are database management
systems (DBMS) & communication monitors.
System support programs provide routine service functions to the other computer programs &
computer users: E.g. Utilities, libraries, performance monitors & job accounting.
System development programs assists in the creation of application programs. E.g. language
translators such as BASIC interpreter & application generators

Application Software: It performs specific tasks for the computer user. Application software is
a program which program written for, or, by, a user to perform a particular job.

General-purpose application software such as electronic spreadsheet has a wide variety of

applications. Specific – purpose application s/w such as payroll & sales analysis is used for the
application for which it is designed
Application programmer writes these programs. Application programmer writes these
programs.
Generally computer users interact with application software. Application and system software act
as interface between users & computer hardware. An application & system software become
more capable, people find computer easier to use.
The Interaction between Users, Application Software, System Software &
Computer Hardware:

System Software controls the execution of the application software & provides other support
functions such as data storage. E.g. when you use an electronic spreadsheet on the computer,
MS-DOS, the computer’s Operating System, handles the storage of the worksheet files on disk.
The language translators and the operating system are themselves programs. Their function is
to get the users program, which is written, in a programming language to run-on the computer
system.

The collection of such SPs is the “System Software” of a particular computer system. Mast
computer systems have support software, called Utility Programs, which perform routine tasks.
These programs sort data, copy data from one storage medium to another, o/p data from a storage
medium to printer & perform other tasks

SYSTEM SOFTWARE

· System software consists of a variety of programs that support the operation of a

computer.
· It is a set of programs to perform a variety of system functions as file editing, resource
management, I/O management and storage management.
· The characteristic in which system software differs from application software is machine
dependency.
· An application program is primarily concerned with the solution of some problem, using
the computer as a tool.
· System programs on the other hand are intended to support the operation and use of the
computer itself, rather than any particular application.
· For this reason, they are usually related to the architecture of the machine on which they
are run.
 · For example, assemblers translate mnemonic instructions into machine code. The
instruction formats, addressing modes are of direct concern in assembler design.
· There are some aspects of system software that do not directly depend upon the type of
computing system being supported. These are known as machine-independent features.
· For example, the general design and logic of an assembler is basically the same on most
computers.

Program Execution
Two popular models for program execution are translation and interpretation.

Program translation
The program translation model bridges the execution gap by
translating a program written in a PL, called the source program (SP), into an equivalent
program in the machine or assembly language of the computer system, called the target
program (TP) Characteristics of the program translation model are:

A program must be translated before it can be executed.

• The translated program may be saved in a file. The saved program may be executed
repeatedly.
• A program must be retranslated following modifications.

Program interpretation
The interpreter reads the source program and stores it in its memory. During interpretation it
takes a source statement, determines its meaning and performs actions which implement it. This
includes computational and input-output actions.

TYPES OF SYSTEM SOFTWARE:

1. Operating system
2. Language translators
a. Compilers
b. Interpreters
c. Assemblers
d. Preprocessors
3. Loaders
4. Linkers
5. Macro processors

Overview of the System software types

OPERATING SYSTEM
· It is the most important system program that act as an interface between the users and the
system. It makes the computer easier to use.
· It provides an interface that is more user-friendly than the underlying hardware.
· The functions of OS are:
1. Process management
2. Memory management
3. Resource management
4. I/O operations
 5. Data management
6. Providing security to user’s job.

LANGUAGE TRANSLATORS

It is the program that takes an input program in one language and produces an output in another
language.

Language
Source Program Translator Object Program

Compilers

· A compiler is a language program that translates programs written in any high-level

language into its equivalent machine language program.
· It bridges the semantic gap between a programming language domain and the execution
domain.

· Two aspects of compilation are:

o Generate code to increment meaning of a source program in the execution
domain.
o Provide diagnostics for violation of programming language, semantics in a source
program.
· The program instructions are taken as a whole.

Compiler
High level language Machine language program

Interpreters:

· It is a translator program that translates a statement of high-level language to machine

language and executes it immediately. The program instructions are taken line by line.
· The interpreter reads the source program and stores it in memory.
· During interpretation, it takes a source statement, determines its meaning and performs
actions which increments it. This includes computational and I/O actions.
· Program counter (PC) indicates which statement of the source program is to be
interpreted next. This statement would be subjected to the interpretation cycle.

· The interpretation cycle consists of the following steps:

o Fetch the statement.

o Analyze the statement and determine its meaning.
o Execute the meaning of the statement.

· The following are the characteristics of interpretation:

o The source program is retained in the source form itself, no target program exists.
 o A statement is analyzed during the interpretation.

Interpreter Memory

Source
Program Program
counter

Assemblers:

· Programmers found it difficult to write or red programs in machine language. In a quest

for a convenient language, they began to use a mnemonic (symbol) for each machine
instructions which would subsequently be translated into machine language.

· Such a mnemonic language is called Assembly language.

· Programs known as Assemblers are written to automate the translation of assembly

language into machine language.

Assembler

Assembly language program Machine language program

· Fundamental functions:

1. Translating mnemonic operation codes to their machine language equivalents.

2. Assigning machine addresses to symbolic tables used by the programmers.

THE SIMPLIFIED INSTRUCTIONAL COMPUTER (SIC):

It is similar to a typical microcomputer. It comes in two versions:

· The standard model

· XE version
SIC Machine Structure:
Memory:
· It consists of bytes(8 bits) ,words (24 bits which are consecutive 3 bytes) addressed by
the location of their lowest numbered byte.
· There are totally 32,768 bytes in memory.
Registers:
There are 5 registers namely
1. Accumulator (A)
2. Index Register(X)
3. Linkage Register(L)
4. Program Counter(PC)
5. Status Word(SW).
 · Accumulator is a special purpose register used for arithmetic operations.
· Index register is used for addressing.
· Linkage register stores the return address of the jump of subroutine instructions (JSUB).
· Program counter contains the address of the current instructions being executed.
· Status word contains a variety of information including the condition code.

CHAPTER 1: Operating system

This chapter gives a basic idea about Operating System starting with definition of operating
system, and its functions.

An operating System (OS) is an intermediary between users and computer hardware. It

provides users an environment in which a user can execute programs conveniently and
efficiently. In technical terms, it is software which manages hardware. An operating System
controls the allocation of resources and services such as memory, processors, devices and
information.

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 access directly by the CPU. So for a program to be
executed, it must in the main memory. 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 are not in
use.
 In multiprogramming, OS decides which process will get memory when and how much.
 Allocates the memory when the process requests it to do so.
 De-allocates the memory when the process no longer needs it or has been terminated.

Processor Management
In multiprogramming environment, OS decides which process gets the processor when and
how much time. This function is called process scheduling. Operating System does the
following activities for processor management.

 Keeps tracks of processor and status of process. Program responsible for this task is known as
traffic controller.
 Allocates the processor (CPU) to a process.
 De-allocates processor when processor is no longer required.

Device Management
OS manages device communication via their respective drivers. Operating System 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. 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 Operating System does.

 Security -- By means of password and similar other techniques, preventing 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 software and users -- Coordination and assignment of
compilers, interpreters, assemblers and other software to the various users of the computer
systems.

Operating systems are there from the very first computer generation. Operating systems keep
evolving over the period of time.
Following are few of the important types of operating system which are most commonly
used.

Batch operating system

The users of batch operating system do not interact with the computer directly. Each user
prepares his job on an off-line device like punch cards and submits it to the computer operator.
To speed up processing, jobs with similar needs are batched together and run as a group. Thus,
the programmers left their programs with the operator. The operator then sorts programs into
batches with similar requirements.

The problems with Batch Systems are following.

 Lack of interaction between the user and job.

 CPU is often idle, because the speeds of the mechanical I/O devices are slower than CPU.
 Difficult to provide the desired priority.

Time sharing operating system

Time sharing is a technique which enables many people, located at various terminals, to use a
particular computer system at the same time. Time-sharing or multitasking is a logical
extension of multiprogramming. Processor's time which is shared among multiple users
simultaneously is termed as time-sharing. The main difference between Multiprogrammed
Batch Systems and Time-Sharing Systems is that in case of multiprogrammed batch systems,
objective is to maximize processor use, whereas in Time-Sharing Systems objective is to
minimize response time.
Distributed operating System
Distributed systems use multiple central processors to serve multiple real time application and
multiple users. Data processing jobs are distributed among the processors accordingly to which
one can perform each job most efficiently. The processors communicate with one another
through various communication lines (such as high-speed buses or telephone lines). These are
referred as loosely coupled systems or distributed systems. Processors in a distributed system
may vary in size and function. These processors are referred as sites, nodes, and computers and
so on.

Network Operating System

Network Operating System runs on a server and and provides server the capability to manage
data, users, groups, security, applications, and other networking functions. The primary
purpose of the network operating system is to allow shared file and printer access among
multiple computers in a network, typically a local area network (LAN), a private network or to
other networks. Examples of network operating systems are Microsoft Windows Server 2003,
Microsoft Windows Server 2008, UNIX, Linux, Mac OS X, Novell NetWare, and BSD.
Real time system
Real time system is defines as a data processing system in which the time interval required to
process and respond to inputs is so small that it controls the environment. Real time processing
is always on line whereas on line system need not be real time. The time taken by the system to
respond to an input and display of required updated information is termed as response time. So
in this method response time is very less as compared to the online processing.

There are two types of real-time operating systems.

Hard real-time systems
Hard real-time systems guarantee that critical tasks complete on time. In hard real-time systems
secondary storage is limited or missing with data stored in ROM. In these systems virtual
memory is almost never found.
Soft real-time systems
Soft real time systems are less restrictive. Critical real-time task gets priority over other tasks
and retains the priority until it completes. Soft real-time systems have limited utility than hard
real- time systems. For example, Multimedia, virtual reality, Advanced Scientific Projects like
undersea exploration and planetary rovers etc.

Operating system with multiple users provides following services.

1. Resource allocation
2. Accounting
3. Protection

A) Resource allocation:
If there are more than one user or jobs running at the same time, then resources must be
allocated to each of them. Operating system manages different types of resources. Some
resources require special allocation code, i.e., main memory, CPU cycles and file storage.
• There are some resources which require only general request and release code. For
allocating CPU, CPU scheduling algorithms are used for better utilization of CPU. CPU
scheduling routines consider the speed of the CPU, number of available registers and other
required factors.

B) Accounting:
• Logs of each user must be kept. It is also necessary to keep record of which user uses how
much and what kinds of computer resources. This log is used for accounting purposes.
• The accounting data may be used for statistics or for the billing. It also used to improve
system efficiency.

C) System Calls:
• Protection involves ensuring that all access to system resources is controlled.
Security starts with each user having to authenticate to the system, usually by means of a
password. External I/O devices must be also protected from invalid access attempts.
• In protection, all the access to the resources is controlled. In multiprocess environment, it
is possible that, one process to interface with the other, or with the operating system, so
protection is required.
• Modern processors provide instructions that can be used as system calls. System calls
provide the interface between a process and the operating system. A system call
instruction is an instruction that generates an interrupt that cause the operating system to
gain control of the processor.
 Types of System Call:
A system call is made using the system call machine language instruction. System calls can be
grouped into five major categories.
1. File management
2. Interprocess communication
3. Process management
4. I/O device management
5. Information maintenance.

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, services to execute the programs in a convenient manner.

Following are few common services provided by operating systems.

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

Program execution
Operating system handles 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
I/O subsystem comprised of I/O devices and their corresponding driver software. Drivers hides
the peculiarities of specific hardware devices from the user as the device driver knows the
peculiarities of the specific device. Operating System manages the communication between
user and device drivers. Following are the major activities of an operating system with respect
to I/O Operation.

 I/O operation means read or write operation with any file or any specific I/O device.
 Program may require any I/O device while running.
 Operating system provides the access to the required I/O device when required.
 File System manipulation
A file represents a collection of related information. Computer can store files on the disk
(secondary storage), for long term storage purpose. Few examples of storage media are
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, operating system manages communications between processes.
Multiple processes with one another through communication lines in the network. 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.

 The both processes can be on the one computer or on different computer but are connected
through computer network.
 Communication may be implemented by two methods either by Shared Memory or by Message

Error Handling
Error can occur anytime and anywhere. 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.
 OS constantly remains aware of possible errors.
 OS takes the 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.
 OS manages all kind of resources using schedulers.
 CPU scheduling algorithms are used for better utilization of CPU.

Protection
Considering computer systems having multiple users the concurrent execution of multiple
processes, then the various processes must be protected from each another's activities.
Protection refers to mechanism or a way to control the access of programs, processes, or users
to the resources defined by computer systems. Following are the major activities of an
operating system with respect to protection.
 OS ensures that all access to system resources is controlled.
 OS ensures that external I/O devices are protected from invalid access attempts.
 OS provides authentication feature for each user by means of a password.

Various properties of an Operating System

Following are few of very important tasks that Operating System handles.

Batch processing
Batch processing is a technique in which Operating System collects one programs and data
together in a batch before processing starts. Operating system does the following activities
related to batch processing.

 OS defines a job which has predefined sequence of commands, programs and data as a single
unit.
 OS keeps a number a jobs in memory and executes them without any manual information.
 Jobs are processed in the order of submission i.e. first come first served fashion.
 When job completes its execution, its memory is released and the output for the job gets copied
into an output spool for later printing or processing.

Advantages
 Batch processing takes much of the work of the operator to the computer.
 Increased performance as a new job gets started as soon as the previous job finished without
any manual intervention.

Disadvantages
 Difficult to debug program.
 A job could enter an infinite loop.
 Due to lack of protection scheme, one batch job can affect pending jobs.

Multitasking
Multitasking refers to term where multiple jobs are executed by the CPU simultaneously by
switching between them. Switches occur so frequently that the users may interact with each
program while it is running. Operating system does the following activities related to
multitasking.
 The user gives instructions to the operating system or to a program directly, and receives an
immediate response.
 Operating System handles multitasking in the way that it can handle multiple operations
/ executes multiple programs at a time.
 Multitasking Operating Systems are also known as Time-sharing systems.
 These Operating Systems were developed to provide interactive use of a computer system at a
reasonable cost.
 A time-shared operating system uses concept of CPU scheduling and multiprogramming to
provide each user with a small portion of a time-shared CPU.
 Each user has at least one separate program in memory.

 A program that is loaded into memory and is executing is commonly referred to as a process.
 When a process executes, it typically executes for only a very short time before it either
finishes or needs to perform I/O.
 Since interactive I/O typically runs at people speeds, it may take a long time to complete.
During this time a CPU can be utilized by another process.
 Operating system allows the users to share the computer simultaneously. Since each action or
command in a time-shared system tends to be short, only a little CPU time is needed for each
user.
 As the system switches CPU rapidly from one user/program to the next, each user is given the
impression that he/she has his/her own CPU, whereas actually one CPU is being shared among
many users.

When two or more programs are residing in memory at the same time, then sharing the
processor is referred to the multiprogramming. Multiprogramming assumes a single shared
processor. Multiprogramming increases CPU utilization by organizing jobs so that the CPU
always has one to execute. Following figure shows the memory layout for a multiprogramming
system.
 Operating system does the following activities related to multiprogramming.
 The operating system keeps several jobs in memory at a time.
 This set of jobs is a subset of the jobs kept in the job pool.
 The operating system picks and begins to execute one of the job in the memory.
 Multiprogramming operating system monitors the state of all active programs and system
resources using memory management programs to ensures that the CPU is never idle unless
there are no jobs

Advantages
 High and efficient CPU utilization.
 User feels that many programs are allotted CPU almost simultaneously.

Disadvantages
 CPU scheduling is required.
 To accommodate many jobs in memory, memory management is required.

Interactivity
Interactivity refers that a User is capable to interact with computer system. Operating system
does the following activities related to interactivity.
 OS provides user an interface to interact with system.
 OS managers input devices to take inputs from the user. For example, keyboard.
 OS manages output devices to show outputs to the user. For example, Monitor.
 OS Response time needs to be short since the user submits and waits for the result.

Real Time System

Real time systems represents are usually dedicated embedded systems. Operating system does
the following activities related to real time system activity.
 In such systems, Operating Systems typically read from and react to sensor data.
 The Operating system must guarantee response to events within fixed periods of time to ensure
correct performance.

Distributed Environment
Distributed environment refers to multiple independent CPUs or processors in a computer
system. Operating system does the following activities related to distributed environment.
 OS Distributes computation logics among several physical processors.
 The processors do not share memory or a clock.
 Instead, each processor has its own local memory.
 OS manages the communications between the processors. They communicate with
 each other through various communication lines.
Spooling
Spooling is an acronym for simultaneous peripheral operations on line. Spooling refers to
putting data of various I/O jobs in a buffer. This buffer is a special area in memory or hard disk
which is accessible to I/O devices. Operating system does the following activities related to
distributed environment.

 OS handles I/O device data spooling as devices have different data access rates.
 OS maintains the spooling buffer which provides a waiting station where data can rest while the
slower device catches up.
 OS maintains parallel computation because of spooling process as a computer can perform I/O
in parallel fashion. It becomes possible to have the computer read data from a tape, write data to
 disk and to write out to a tape printer while it is doing its computing task.

Advantages
 The spooling operation uses a disk as a very large buffer.
 Spooling is capable of overlapping I/O operation for one job with processor operations for
another job.

OperatingSystemProcesses
This section describes process, process states and process control block (PCB).

Process
A process is a program in execution. The execution of a process must progress in a sequential
fashion. Definition of process is following.
 A process is defined as an entity which represents the basic unit of work to be implemented in
the system.
Components of a process are following.

S.N. Component & Description

Object Program
1 Code to be executed.

2 Data
Data to be used for executing the program.

3 Resources
While executing the program, it may require some resources.

Status
4 Verifies the status of the process execution. A process can run to completion
only when all requested resources have been allocated to the process. Two or
more processes could be executing the same program, each using their own
data and resources.
Program
A program by itself is not a process. It is a static entity made up of program statement while
process is a dynamic entity. Program contains the instructions to be executed by processor. A
program takes a space at single place in main memory and continues to stay there. A program
does not perform any action by itself.

Process States
As a process executes, it changes state. The state of a process is defined as the current activity of
the process. Process can have one of the following five states at a time.

S.N. State & Description

New
1 The process is being created.

Ready
2 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.

Running
3 Process instructions are being executed (i.e. The process that is currently
being executed).

Waiting
4 The process is waiting for some event to occur (such as the completion of
an I/O operation).

5 Terminated
The process has finished execution.

Process Control Block, PCB

Each process is represented in the operating system by a process control block (PCB) also called
a task control block. PCB is the data structure used by the operating system. Operating system
groups all information that needs about particular process. PCB contains many pieces of
information associated with a specific process which is described below.

S.N. Information & Description

Pointer
1 Pointer points to another process control block. Pointer is used for
maintaining the scheduling list.
Process State
2 Process state may be new, ready, running, waiting and so on.
Program Counter
Program Counter indicates the address of the next instruction to be
3 executed for this process.
CPU registers
CPU registers include general purpose register, stack pointers, index
4 registers and accumulators etc. number of register and type of
register totally depends upon the computer architecture.

Memory management information

This information may include the value of base and limit registers, the
5 page tables, or the segment tables depending on the memory system used
by the operating system. This information is useful for deallocating the
memory when the process terminates.
Accounting information
This information includes the amount of CPU and real time used,
6 time limits, job or process numbers, account numbers etc.

Process control block includes CPU scheduling, I/O resource management, file management
information etc. The PCB serves as the repository for any information which can vary from
process to process. Loader/linker sets flags and registers when a process is created. If that
process gets suspended, the contents of the registers are saved on a stack and the pointer to the
particular stack frame is stored in the PCB. By this technique, the hardware state can be restored
so that the process can be scheduled to run again.

OperatingSystemProcess Scheduling
 This section describes process scheduling, scheduling queues and various types of process
schedulers.

Definition
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 system. Such
operating systems allow more than one process to be loaded into the executable memory at a
time and loaded process shares the CPU using time multiplexing.

Scheduling Queues
Scheduling queues refers to queues of processes or devices. When the process enters into the
system, then this process is put into a job queue. This queue consists of all processes in the
system. The operating system also maintains other queues such as device queue. Device queue is
a queue for which multiple processes are waiting for a particular I/O device. Each device has its
own device queue.

This figure shows the queuing diagram of process scheduling.

 Queue is represented by rectangular box.
 The circles represent the resources that serve the queues.
 The arrows indicate the process flow in the system.

Queues are of two types

 Ready queue
 Device queue

A newly arrived process is put in the ready queue. Processes waits in ready queue for allocating
the CPU. Once the CPU is assigned to a process, then that process will execute. While executing
the process, any one of the following events can occur.

 The process could issue an I/O request and then it would be placed in an I/O queue.
 The process could create new sub process and will wait for its termination.
 The process could be removed forcibly from the CPU, as a result of interrupt and put back in the
ready queue.
 Two state process model refers to running and non-running states which are described below.

S.N. State & Description

Running
When new process is created by Operating System that process enters into
1 the system as in the running state.
Non-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
2 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 handles 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 job scheduler. Long term scheduler determines which programs are admitted to
the system for processing. Job scheduler 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 process changes the state from new to ready, then there is use of long term
scheduler.

Short Term Scheduler

It is also called CPU scheduler. Main objective is increasing 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 process among the processes that are ready to execute and allocates CPU to
one of them. Short term scheduler also known as dispatcher, execute most frequently and makes
the fine grained decision of which process to execute next. Short term scheduler is faster than
long term scheduler.

Medium Term Scheduler

Medium term scheduling is part of the 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.
Comparison between schedulers
Running process may become suspended if it makes an I/O request. Suspended processes cannot
make any progress towards completion. In this condition, to remove the process from memory
and make space for other process, 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.

S.N. Long Term Scheduler Short Term Scheduler Medium Term Scheduler
1 It is a job scheduler It is a CPU scheduler It is a process swapping
scheduler.
2 Speed is lesser than short Speed is fastest among Speed is in between both short
term scheduler other two and long term scheduler.
It controls the degree of It provides lesser control
multiprogramming over degree of It reduces the degree of
3 multiprogramming multiprogramming.
It is almost absent or It is also minimal in time It is a part of Time sharing
4 minimal in time sharing sharing system systems.
system
It selects processes from It selects those processes It can re-introduce the process
5 pool and loads them into which are ready to execute into memory and execution can
memory for execution be continued.

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
context switcher saves the content of all processor registers for the process being removed from
the CPU, in its process descriptor. The context of a process is represented in the process control
block of a process. Context switch time is pure overhead. Context switching can significantly
affect performance as modern computers have a lot of general and status registers to be saved.
Content switching times are highly dependent on hardware support. Context switch requires ( n
 + m ) bxK time units to save the state of the processor with n general registers, assuming b are

the store operations are required to save n and m registers of two process control blocks and
each store instruction requires K time units.

Context switching
Some hardware systems employ two or more sets of processor registers to reduce the amount of
context switching time. When the process is switched, the following information is stored.
 Program Counter
 Scheduling Information
 Base and limit register value
 Currently used register
 Changed State
 I/O State
 Accounting

Process SchedulingAlgorithms (policies for process)

This section describes various scheduling algorithms like FCFS, SJF, RR and Multilevel Queue
Scheduling.
We'll discuss four major scheduling algorithms here which are following
 First Come First Serve (FCFS) Scheduling
 Shortest-Job-First (SJF) Scheduling
 Priority Scheduling
 Round Robin(RR) Scheduling
 Multilevel Queue Scheduling

First Come First Serve (FCFS)

 Jobs are executed on first come, first serve basis.
 Easy to understand and implement.
 Poor in performance as average wait time is high.

Wait time of each process is following

Process Wait Time : Service Time - Arrival Time

P0 0-0=0
P1 5-1=4
P2 8-2=6
P3 16 - 3 = 13

Average Wait Time: (0+4+6+13) / 4 = 5.55

Shortest Job First (SJF)
 Best approach to minimize waiting time.
 Impossible to implement
 Processer should know in advance how much time process will take.

Wait time of each process is following

Process Wait Time : Service Time - Arrival Time

P0 3-0=3
P1 0-0=0
P2 16 - 2 = 14
P3 8-3=5

Average Wait Time: (3+0+14+5) / 4 = 5.50

 Priority Based Scheduling
 Each process is assigned a priority. Process with highest priority is to be executed first and so
on.
 Processes with same priority are executed on first come first serve basis.
 Priority can be decided based on memory requirements, time requirements or any other resource
requirement.

Wait time of each process is following

Process Wait Time : Service Time - Arrival Time

P0 0-0=0
P1 3-1=2
P2 8-2=6
P3 16 - 3 = 13

Average Wait Time: (0+2+6+13) / 4 = 5.25

Round Robin Scheduling

 Each process is provided a fix time to execute called quantum.
 Once a process is executed for given time period. Process is preempted and other process
executes for given time period.
 Context switching is used to save states of preempted processes.
 Wait time of each process is following

Process Wait Time : Service Time - Arrival Time

P0 (0-0) + (12-3) = 9
P1 (3-1) = 2
P2 6-2) + (15-9) = 10
P3 (9-3) + (18-12) = 12

Average Wait Time: (9+2+10+12) / 4 = 8.25

Multi Queue Scheduling
 Multiple queues are maintained for processes.
 Each queue can have its own scheduling algorithms.
 Priorities are assigned to each queue.
 Dining Philosophers Problem
The scenario involves five philosophers sitting at a round table with a bowl of food and five chopsticks. Each
chopstick sits between two adjacent philosophers. The philosophers are allowed to think and eat. Since two
chopsticks are required for each philosopher to eat, and only five chopsticks exist at the table, no two adjacent
philosophers may be eating at the same time. A scheduling problem arises as to who gets to eat at what time.
This problem is similar to the problem of scheduling processes that require a limited number of resources

Problems
The problem was designed to illustrate the challenges of avoiding deadlock, a system state in
which no progress is possible. To see that a proper solution to this problem is not obvious,
consider a proposal in which each philosopher is instructed to behave as follows:
 think until the left fork is available; when it is, pick it up;
 think until the right fork is available; when it is, pick it up;
 when both forks are held, eat for a fixed amount of time;
 then, put the right fork down;
 then, put the left fork down;
 Repeat from the beginning.
This attempted solution fails because it allows the system to reach a deadlock state, in which no
progress is possible. This is a state in which each philosopher has picked up the fork to the left,
and is waiting for the fork to the right to become available. With the given instructions, this state
can be reached, and when it is reached, the philosophers will eternally wait for each other to
release a fork

A solution to the dining philosopher problem:

monitor DP
{
enum { THINKING; HUNGRY, EATING) state [5] ;
condition self [5];
 void pickup (int i) {
state[i] = HUNGRY;
test(i);
if (state[i] != EATING) self [i].wait;
}
void putdown (int i) {
state[i] = THINKING;
// test left and right neighbors
test((i + 4) % 5);
test((i + 1) % 5);
}
void test (int i) {
if ( (state[(i + 4) % 5] != EATING) &&
(state[i] == HUNGRY) &&
(state[(i + 1) % 5] != EATING) ) {
state[i] = EATING ;
self[i].signal () ;
}
}
initialization_code() {
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
state[i] = THINKING;
}
}
Each philosopher I invokes the operations pickup() and putdown() in the following
sequence:
dp.pickup (i)
EAT
dp.putdown (i)

OperatingSystemMulti-Threading
This section describes thread, types of threads and various thread models.

What is Thread?
A thread is a flow of execution through the process code, with its own program counter, system
registers and stack. A thread is also called a light weight process. Threads provide a way to
improve application performance through parallelism. Threads represent a software approach to
improving performance of operating system by reducing the overhead thread is equivalent to a
classical process. Each thread belongs to exactly one process and no thread can exist outside a
process. Each thread represents a separate flow of control. Threads have been successfully used
in implementing network servers and web server. They also provide a suitable foundation for
parallel execution of applications on shared memory multiprocessors. Following figure shows
the working of the single and multithreaded processes.
 S.N. Process Thread
Process is heavy weight or Thread is light weight taking lesser
1 resource intensive. resources than a process.
Process switching needs Thread switching does not need to
1 interaction with operating system. interact with operating system.
In multiple processing
environments each process All threads can share same set of open
1 executes the same code but has its files, child processes.
own memory and file resources.
If one process is blocked then no While one thread is blocked and
other process can execute until the waiting, second thread in the same task
1 first process is unblocked. can run.
Multiple processes without using Multiple threaded processes use
1 threads use more resources. fewer resources.

In multiple processes each process One thread can read, write or change
1 operates independently of the another thread's data.
others.

 Thread minimizes context switching time.

 Use of threads provides concurrency within a process.
 Efficient communication.
 Economy- It is more economical to create and context switch threads.
 Utilization of multiprocessor architectures to a greater scale and efficiency.

Threads are implemented in following two ways

 User Level Threads -- User managed threads
 Kernel Level Threads -- Operating System managed threads acting on kernel, an operating
system core.

User Level Threads

In this case, application manages thread management kernel is not aware of the existence of
 threads. The thread library contains code for creating and destroying threads, for passing
message and data between threads, for scheduling thread execution and for saving and restoring
thread contexts. The application begins with a single thread and begins running in that thread.

Advantages
 Thread switching does not require Kernel mode privileges.
 User level thread can run on any operating system.
 Scheduling can be application specific in the user level thread.
 User level threads are fast to create and manage.

Disadvantages
 In a typical operating system, most system calls are blocking.
 Multithreaded application cannot take advantage of multiprocessing.

Kernel Level Threads

In this case, thread management done by the Kernel. There is no thread management code in the
application area. Kernel threads are supported directly by the operating system. Any application
can be programmed to be multithreaded. All of the threads within an application are supported
within a single process.

The Kernel maintains context information for the process as a whole and for individuals’ threads
within the process. Scheduling by the Kernel is done on a thread basis. The Kernel performs
thread creation, scheduling and management in Kernel space. Kernel threads are generally
slower to create and manage than the user threads.

Advantages
 Kernel can simultaneously schedule multiple threads from the same process on multiple
processes.
 If one thread in a process is blocked, the Kernel can schedule another thread of the same process.
 Kernel routines themselves can multithreaded.

Disadvantages
 Kernel threads are generally slower to create and manage than the user threads.
 Transfer of control from one thread to another within same process requires a mode switch to the
Kernel.

Some operating system provides a combined user level thread and Kernel level thread facility.
Solaris is a good example of this combined approach. In a combined system, multiple threads
 within the same application can run in parallel on multiple processors and a blocking system call
need not block the entire process. Multithreading models are three types

 Many to many relationship.

 Many to one relationship.
 One to one relationship.

Many to Many Model

In this model, many user level threads multiplexes to the Kernel thread of smaller or equal
numbers. The number of Kernel threads may be specific to either a particular application or a
particular machine.

Many to One Model

Many to one model maps many user level threads to one Kernel level thread. Thread
management is done in user space. When thread makes a blocking system call, the entire process
will be blocks. Only one thread can access the Kernel at a time, so multiple threads are unable to
run in parallel on multiprocessors. If the user level thread libraries are implemented in the
operating system in such a way that system does not support them then Kernel threads use the
many to one relationship modes.

One to One Model

There is one to one relationship of user level thread to the kernel level thread. This model
provides more concurrency than the many to one model. It also another thread to run when a
thread makes a blocking system call. It support multiple thread to execute in parallel on
microprocessors. Disadvantage of this model is that creating user thread requires the
corresponding Kernel thread. OS/2, Windows NT and windows 2000 use one to one
relationship model.

Difference between User Level & KernelLevel Thread

S.N. User Level Threads Kernel Level Thread

User level threads are faster to Kernel level threads are slower to
1 create and manage. create and manage.
Implementation is by a thread Operating system supports creation of
2 library at the user level. Kernel threads.
User level thread is generic and Kernel level thread is specific to the
3 can run on any operating system. operating system.
Multi-threaded application cannot Kernel routines themselves can
4 take advantage of multiprocessing. be multithreaded.

Race Condition?
A race condition is an undesirable situation that occurs when a device or system attempts to
perform two or more operations at the same time, but because of the nature of the device or
system, the operations must be done in the proper sequence to be done correctly.
 A race condition occurs when two threads access a shared variable at the same time. The first
thread reads the variable, and the second thread reads the same value from the variable. Then the
first thread and second thread perform their operations on the value, and they race to see which
thread can write the value last to the shared variable. The value of the thread that writes its value
last is preserved, because the thread is writing over the value that the previous thread wrote.

MemoryManagement
This section describes memory management techniques, logical v/s actual address space and various
paging techniques.
Memory management is the functionality of an operating system which handles or manages
primary memory. Memory management keeps track of each and every memory location either it
is allocated to some process or it is free. It checks how much memory is to be allocated to
processes. It decides which process will get memory at what time. It tracks whenever some
memory gets freed or unallocated and correspondingly it updates the status. Memory

management provides protection by using two registers, a base register and a limit register. The
base register holds the smallest legal physical memory address and the limit register specifies the
size of the range. For example, if the base register holds 300000 and the limit register is
1209000, then the program can legally access all addresses from 300000 through 411999.
Instructions and data to memory addresses can be done in following ways
 Compile time -- When it is known at compile time where the process will reside, compile time
binding is used to generate the absolute code.
 Load time -- When it is not known at compile time where the process will reside in memory,
then the compiler generates re-locatable code.
 Execution time -- If the process can be moved during its execution from one memory segment
to another, then binding must be delayed to be done at run time

MEMORY ALLOCATION
Dynamic loading
In dynamic loading, a routine of a program is not loaded until it is called by the program. All
routines are kept on disk in a re-locatable load format. The main program is loaded into memory
and is executed. Other routines methods or modules are loaded on request. Dynamic loading
makes better memory space utilization and unused routines are never loaded.

Dynamic Linking
Linking is the process of collecting and combining various modules of code and data into a
 executable file that can be loaded into memory and executed. Operating system can link system
level libraries to a program. When it combines the libraries at load time, the linking is called
static linking and when this linking is done at the time of execution, it is called as dynamic
linking. In static linking, libraries linked at compile time, so program code size becomes bigger
whereas in dynamic linking libraries linked at execution time so program code size remains
smaller.
Swapping
Swapping is a mechanism in which a process can be swapped temporarily out of main memory
to a backing store, and then brought back into memory for continued execution. Backing store is
a usually a hard disk drive or any other secondary storage which fast in access and large enough
to accommodate copies of all memory images for all users. It must be capable of providing
direct access to these memory images.

Main memory usually has two partitions

 Low Memory -- Operating system resides in this memory.
 High Memory -- User processes then held in high memory.
Operating system uses the following memory allocation mechanism.

S.N Memory Description

. Allocation
In this type of allocation, relocation-register scheme is used to protect
Single-partition user processes from each other, and from changing operating-system
allocation code and data. Relocation register contains value of smallest physical
1 address whereas limit register contains range of logical addresses. Each
logical address must be less than the limit register.
In this type of allocation, main memory is divided into a number of
Multiple- fixed-sized partitions where each partition should contain only one
partition process. When a partition is free, a process is selected from the input
2 allocation queue and is loaded into the free partition. When the process terminates,
the partition becomes available for another process.
Fragmentation
As processes are loaded and removed from memory, the free memory space is broken into little
pieces. It happens after sometimes that processes cannot be allocated to memory blocks
considering their small size and memory blocks remains unused. This problem is known as
Fragmentation.

Fragmentation is of two types

S.N. Fragmentation Description

External Total memory space is enough to satisfy a request or to reside a
1 fragmentation process in it, but it is not contiguous so it cannot be used.
2 Internal Memory block assigned to process is bigger. Some portion of
fragmentation memory is left unused as it cannot be used by another process.

External fragmentation can be reduced by compaction or shuffle memory contents to place all
free memory together in one large block. To make compaction feasible, relocation should be
 dynamic. External fragmentation is avoided by using paging technique. Paging is a technique in
which physical memory is broken into blocks of the same size called pages (size is power of 2,
between 512 bytes and 8192 bytes). When a process is to be executed, it's corresponding pages
are loaded into any available memory frames.

Logical address space of a process can be non-contiguous and a process is allocated physical
memory whenever the free memory frame is available. Operating system keeps track of all free
frames. Operating system needs n free frames to run a program of size n pages.

Address generated by CPU is divided into

 Page number (p) -- page number is used as an index into a page table which contains base
address of each page in physical memory.
 Page offset (d) -- page offset is combined with base address to define the physical memory

address.

Segmentation
Segmentation is a technique to break memory into logical pieces where each piece represents a
group of related information. For example, data segments or code segment for each process, data
segment for operating system and so on. Segmentation can be implemented using or without
using paging.
 Segment number (s) -- segment number is used as an index into a segment table which contains
base address of each segment in physical memory and a limit of segment.
 Segment offset (o) -- segment offset is first checked against limit and then is combined with
base address to define the physical memory address.
 I/O Buffering
Buffering of I/O is performed for ( at least ) 3 major reasons:
1. Speed differences between two devices. A slow device may write data into a buffer, and
when the buffer is full, the entire buffer is sent to the fast device all at once. So that the
slow device still has somewhere to write while this is going on, a second buffer is used,
and the two buffers alternate as each becomes full. This is known asdouble buffering. (
Double buffering is often used in ( animated ) graphics, so that one screen image can be
generated in a buffer while the other ( completed ) buffer is displayed on the screen.
This prevents the user from ever seeing any half-finished screen images. )
2. Data transfer size differences. Buffers are used in particular in networking systems to
break messages up into smaller packets for transfer, and then for re-assembly at the
receiving side.
3. To support copy semantics. For example, when an application makes a request for a disk
write, the data is copied from the user's memory area into a kernel buffer. Now the
application can change their copy of the data, but the data which eventually gets written
out to disk is the version of the data at the time the write request was made.

VirtualMemory
This section describes concepts of virtual memory, demand paging and various page
replacement algorithms.

Virtual memory is a technique that allows the execution of processes which are not
completely available in memory. The main visible advantage of this scheme is that programs can
be larger than physical memory. Virtual memory is the separation of user logical memory from
physical memory. This separation allows an extremely large virtual memory to be provided for
programmers when only a smaller physical memory is available. Following are the situations,
when entire program is not required to be loaded fully in main memory.

 User written error handling routines are used only when an error occured in the data or
computation.
 Certain options and features of a program may be used rarely.
 Many tables are assigned a fixed amount of address space even though only a small amount of
the table is actually used.
 The ability to execute a program that is only partially in memory would counter many benefits.
 Less number of I/O would be needed to load or swap each user program into memory.
 A program would no longer be constrained by the amount of physical memory that is available.
 Each user program could take less physical memory, more programs could be run the same time,
with a corresponding increase in CPU utilization and throughput.
 Virtual memory is commonly implemented by demand paging. It can also be implemented in a
segmentation system. Demand segmentation can also be used to provide virtual memory.

 n jobs address space size.

Virtual memory algorithms

Page replacement algorithms
Page replacement algorithms are the techniques using which Operating System decides which
memory pages to swap out, write to disk when a page of memory needs to be allocated. Paging
happens whenever a page fault occurs and a free page cannot be used for allocation purpose
accounting to reason that pages are not available or the number of free pages is lower than
required pages. When the page that was selected for replacement and was paged out, is
referenced again then it has to read in from disk, and this requires for I/O completion. This
process determines the quality of the page replacement algorithm: the lesser the time waiting for
page-ins, the better is the algorithm. A page replacement algorithm looks at the limited
information about accessing the pages provided by hardware, and tries to select which pages
should be replaced to minimize the total number of page misses, while balancing it with the
costs of primary storage and processor time of the algorithm itself. There are many different
page replacement algorithms. We evaluate an algorithm by running it on a particular string of
memory reference and computing the number of page faults.

Reference String
The string of memory references is called reference string. Reference strings are generated
artificially or by tracing a given system and recording the address of each memory reference.
The latter choice produces a large number of data, where we note two things.

A translation look-aside buffer (TLB): A translation lookaside buffer (TLB) is a memory cache
that stores recent translations of virtual memory to physical addresses for faster retrieval. When a
virtual memory address is referenced by a program, the search starts in the CPU. First, instruction
caches are checked. If the required memory is not in these very fast caches, the system has to look
up the memory’s physical address. At this point, TLB is checked for a quick reference to the
location in physical memory.

When an address is searched in the TLB and not found, the physical memory must be searched
with a memory page crawl operation. As virtual memory addresses are translated, values
referenced are added to TLB. When a value can be retrieved from TLB, speed is enhanced
 because the memory address is stored in the TLB on processor. Most processors include TLBs to
increase the speed of virtual memory operations through the inherent latency-reducing proximity
as well as the high-running frequencies of current CPU’s.

TLBs also add the support required for multi-user computers to keep memory separate, by having
a user and a supervisor mode as well as using permissions on read and write bits to enable sharing.
TLBs can suffer performance issues from multitasking and code errors. This performance
degradation is called a cache thrash. Cache thrash is caused by an ongoing computer activity that
fails to progress due to excessive use of resources or conflicts in the caching system.

ALGORITHM
FIFO Page replacement algorithm
 Oldest page in main memory is the one which will be selected for replacement.
 Easy to implement, keep a list, replace pages from the tail and add new pages at the head.

Optimal Page algorithm

 An optimal page-replacement algorithm has the lowest page-fault rate of all algorithms. An
optimal page-replacement algorithm exists, and has been called OPT or MIN.
 Replace the page that will not be used for the longest period of time . Use the time when a page
is to be used.

Least Recently used (LRU) algorithmn

 Page which has not been used for the longest time in main memory is the one which will be
 selected for replacement.
 Easy to implement, keep a list, replace pages by looking back into time.

Page Buffering algorithm

 To get process start quickly, keep a pool of free frames.
 On page fault, select a page to be replaced.
 Write new page in the frame of free pool, mark the page table and restart the process.
 Now write the dirty page out of disk and place the frame holding replaced page in free pool.

Least frequently Used (LFU) algorithm

 Page with the smallest count is the one which will be selected for replacement.
 This algorithm suffers from the situation in which a page is used heavily during the initial phase
of a process, but then is never used again.

Most frequently Used (LFU) algorithm

 This algorithm is based on the argument that the page with the smallest count was probably just
brought in and has yet to be used.

OperatingSystemSecurity
This section describes various security related aspects like authentication, one time password,
threats and security classifications.
Security refers to providing a protection system to computer system resources such as CPU,
memory, disk, software programs and most importantly data/information stored in the computer
system. If a computer program is run by unauthorized user then he/she may cause severe damage
to computer or data stored in it. So a computer system must be protected against unauthorized
access, malicious access to system memory, viruses, worms etc. We're going to discuss
following topics in this article.
 Authentication
 One Time passwords
 Program Threats
 System Threats
 Computer Security Classifications
Authentication refers to identifying the each user of the system and associating the executing
programs with those users. It is the responsibility of the Operating System to create a protection
 system which ensures that a user who is running a particular program is authentic. Operating
Systems generally identifies/authenticates users using following three ways:
 Username / Password - User need to enter a registered username and password with Operating
system to login into the system.
 User card/key - User need to punch card in card slot, or enter key generated by key generator in
option provided by operating system to login into the system.
 User attribute - fingerprint/ eye retina pattern/ signature - User need to pass his/her attribute
via designated input device used by operating system to login into the system.

One time passwords provides additional security along with normal authentication. In One-
Time Password system, a unique password is required every time user tries to login into the
system. Once a one-time password is used then it cannot be used again. One time password are
implemented in various ways.
 Random numbers - Users are provided cards having numbers printed along with corresponding
alphabets. System asks for numbers corresponding to few alphabets randomly chosen.
 Secret key - User are provided a hardware device which can create a secret id mapped with user
id. System asks for such secret id which is to be generated every time prior to login.
 Network password - Some commercial applications send one time password to user on
registered mobile/ email which is required to be entered prior to login.

Operating system's processes and kernel do the designated task as instructed. If a user
program made these process do malicious tasks then it is known as Program Threats. One of the
common examples of program threat is a program installed in a computer which can store and
send user credentials via network to some hacker. Following is the list of some well-known
program threats.
 Trojan horse - Such program traps user login credentials and stores them to send to malicious
user who can later on login to computer and can access system resources.
 Trap Door - If a program which is designed to work as required, have a security hole in its code
and perform illegal action without knowledge of user then it is called to have a trap door.
 Logic Bomb - Logic bomb is a situation when a program misbehaves only when certain
conditions met otherwise it works as a genuine program. It is harder to detect.
 Virus - Virus as name suggests can replicate them on computer system .They are highly
dangerous and can modify/delete user files, crash systems. A virus is generally a small code
embedded in a program. As user accesses the program, the virus starts getting embedded in other
files/ programs and can make system unusable for user.

System threats refer to misuse of system services and network connections to put user in
trouble. System threats can be used to launch program threats on a complete network called as
program attack. System threats create such an environment that
operating system resources/ user files are mis-used. Following is the list of some well-known
system threats.

 Worm -Worm is a process which can choke down a system performance by using system
resources to extreme levels. A Worm process generates its multiple copies where each copy uses
system resources, prevents all other processes to get required resources. Worm processes can
even shut down an entire network.
 Port Scanning - Port scanning is a mechanism or means by which a hacker can detects system
vulnerabilities to make an attack on the system.
 Denial of Service - Denial of service attacks normally prevents user to make legitimate use of
the system
 CHAPTER 2: FUNDAMENTALS OF LANGUAGE
PROCESSING
Definition
Language Processing = Analysis of SP + Synthesis of TP.
Definition motivates a generic model of language processing activities. We refer to the collection
of language processor components engaged in analyzing a source program as the analysis phase of
the language processor. Components engaged in synthesizing a target program constitute the
synthesis phase.

OVERVIEW OF LANGUAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM

Computers are a balanced mix of software and hardware. Hardware is just a piece of mechanical device
and its functions are being controlled by a compatible software. Hardware understands instructions in
the form of electronic charge, which is the counterpart of binary language in software programming.
Binary language has only two alphabets, 0 and 1. To instruct, the hardware codes must be written in
binary format, which is simply a series of 1s and 0s. It would be a difficult and cumbersome task for
computer programmers to write such codes, which is why we have compilers to write such codes.

Language Processing System

We have learnt that any computer system is made of hardware and software. The hardware understands
a language, which humans cannot understand. So we write programs in high-level language, which is
easier for us to understand and remember. These programs are then fed into a series of tools and OS
components to get the desired code that can be used by the machine. This is known as Language
Processing System.

a) Preprocessor:A preprocessor produce input to compilers. They may perform the following
functions.
1. Macro processing: A preprocessor may allow a user to define macros that are short hands for
longer constructs.
2. File inclusion: A preprocessor may include header files into the program text.
 3. Rational preprocessor: these preprocessors augment older languages with more modern flow-of-
control and data structuring facilities.
4. Language Extensions: These preprocessor attempts to add capabilities to the language by certain
amounts to build-in macro

b) COMPILER:Compiler is a translator program that translates a program written in (HLL) the source
program and translate it into an equivalent program in (MLL) the target program. As an important
part of a compiler is error showing to the programmer.

c) ASSEMBLER: programmers found it difficult to write or read programs in machine language.

They begin to use a mnemonic (symbols) for each machine instruction, which they would
subsequently translate into machine language. Such a mnemonic machine language is now called
an assembly language. Programs known as assembler were written to automate the translation of
assembly language in to machine language. The input to an assembler program is called source
program, the output is a machine language translation (object program).

What is an assembler ?
A tool called an assembler translates assembly language into binary instructions. Assemblers
provide a friendlier representation than a computer’s 0s and 1s that simplifies writing and reading
programs. Symbolic names for operations and locations are one facet of this representation. Another
facet is programming facilities that increase a program’s clarity.
An assembler reads a single assembly language source file and produces an object file containing
machine instructions and bookkeeping information that helps combine several object files into a
program. Figure (1) illustrates how a program is built. Most programs consist of several files—also
called modules— that are written, compiled, and assembled independently. A program may also use
prewritten routines supplied in a program library . A module typically contains References to
subroutines and data defined in other modules and in libraries. The code in a module cannot be
executed when it contains unresolved References to labels in other object files or libraries. Another
tool, called a linker, combines a collection of object and library files into an executable file , which a
computer can run.

The Assembler Provides:

a. Access to all the machine’s resources by the assembled program. This includes access to
the entire instruction set of the machine.
b. A means for specifying run-time locations of program and data in memory.
c. Provide symbolic labels for the representation of constants and addresses.
d. Perform assemble-time arithmetic.
e. Provide for the use of any synthetic instructions.
f. Emit machine code in a form that can be loaded and executed.
g. Report syntax errors and provide program listings
h. Provide an interface to the module linkers and program loader.
 i. Expand programmer defined macro routines.

Table management Techniques

An Assembler uses the following tables:
OPTAB: Operation Code Table Contains mnemonic operation code and its machine language equivalent.
SYMTAB: Symbol Table maintains symbolic label, operand and their corresponding machine.
LITTAB is a table of literals used in the program

For efficiency reasons SYMTAB must remain in main memory throughout passes I and II of the assembler.
LITTAB is not accessed as frequently as SYMTAB, however
it may be accessed sufficiently frequently to justify its presence in the memory. If memory is at a premium,
only a part of LITTAB can be kept in memory. OPTAB should be in memory during pass I

d) INTERPRETER: An interpreter is a program that appears to execute a source program as if it

were machine language

Interpreters are classified into Pure and impure interpreters:

Pure interpreters do not change the source code and retains the source form throughout the
interpretation process. This require more overhead and the process becomes complex
While, impure, the source code is subjected to some initial preprocessing before the code is
eventually interpreted. The actual analysis overhead is now reduced and the processor speed
enabling faithful and efficient interpretation.
Languages such as BASIC, SNOBOL, LISP can be translated using interpreters. JAVA also uses
interpreter. The process of interpretation can be carried out in following phases.

1. Lexical analysis
2. Synatx analysis
3. Semantic analysis
4. Direct Execution

e) Loader and Link-editor: Once the assembler procedures an object program, that program must be
placed into memory and executed. The assembler could place the object program directly in
memory and transfer control to it, thereby causing the machine language program to be execute.
This would waste core by leaving the assembler in memory while the user’s program was being
executed. Also the programmer would have to retranslate his program with each execution, thus
wasting translation time. To overcome this problems of wasted translation time and memory.
System programmers developed another component called loader “A loader is a program that
places programs into memory and prepares them for execution.” It would be more efficient if
subroutines could be translated into object form the loader could “relocate” directly behind the
user’s program.

STRUCTURE OF THE COMPILER DESIGN

A compiler translates the code written in one language to some other language without changing the
meaning of the program. It is also expected that a compiler should make the target code efficient
and optimized in terms of time and space.
Compiler design principles provide an in-depth view of translation and optimization process.
Compiler design covers basic translation mechanism and error detection & recovery. It includes
lexical, syntax, and semantic analysis as front end, and code generation and optimization as back-
end.

PHASES OF A COMPILER:
A compiler can broadly be divided into two phases based on the way they compile.

Analysis Phase
Known as the front-end of the compiler, the analysis phase of the compiler reads the source
program, divides it into core parts and then checks for lexical, grammar and syntax errors.The
analysis phase generates an intermediate representation of the source program and symbol table,
which should be fed to the Synthesis phase as input.

Analysis and Synthesis phase of compiler

Synthesis Phase
Known as the back-end of the compiler, the synthesis phase generates the target program with the
help of intermediate source code representation and symbol table.

A compiler can have many phases and passes.

Pass : A pass refers to the traversal of a compiler through the entire program.

Phase : A phase of a compiler is a distinguishable stage, which takes input from the previous stage,
processes and yields output that can be used as input for the next stage. A pass can have more than
one phase.

Compilation process is partitioned into number of sub-processes called ‘phases’.

A common division into

phases is described
below. In some
compilers, the ordering
of phases may differ
slightly, some phases
may be combined or
split into several
phases or some extra
phases may be inserted
between those
mentioned below.
 Lexical analysis This is the initial part of reading and analysing the program text: The text is read and divided into tokens, each
of which corresponds to a sym- bol in the programming language, e.g., a variable name, keyword or number.

Syntax analysis This phase takes the list of tokens produced by the lexical analysis and arranges these in a tree-structure (called
the syntax tree) that reflects the structure of the program. This phase is often called parsing.

Type checking This phase analyses the syntax tree to determine if the program violates certain consistency requirements, e.g., if
a variable is used but not declared or if it is used in a context that does not make sense given the type of the variable, such as
trying to use a boolean value as a function pointer.

Intermediate code generation The program is translated to a simple machine- independent intermediate
language.

Register allocation The symbolic variable names used in the intermediate code are translated to numbers, each of which
corresponds to a register in the target machine code.

Lexical Analysis
OVER VIEW OF LEXICAL ANALYSIS
The word “lexical” in the traditional sense means “pertaining to words”. In terms of programming
languages, words are objects like variable names, numbers, keywords etc. Lexical analysis is the first
phase of a compiler. It takes the modified source code from language preprocessors that are written in
the form of sentences. The lexical analyzer breaks these syntaxes into a series of tokens, by removing
any whitespace or comments in the source code.
If the lexical analyzer finds a token invalid, it generates an error. The lexical analyzer works closely
with the syntax analyzer. It reads character streams from the source code, checks for legal tokens, and
passes the data to the syntax analyzer when it demands.

Tokens
Lexemes are said to be a sequence of characters (alphanumeric) in a token. There are some
predefined rules for every lexeme to be identified as a valid token. These rules are defined by
grammar rules, by means of a pattern. A pattern explains what can be a token, and these patterns
are defined by means of regular expressions.

Syntax Analysis
Introduction
Syntax analysis or parsing is the second phase of a compiler. In this chapter, we shall learn the basic
concepts used in the construction of a parser.

We have seen that a lexical analyzer can identify tokens with the help of regular expressions and pattern
rules. But a lexical analyzer cannot check the syntax of a given sentence due to the limitations of the regular
expressions. Regular expressions cannot check balancing tokens, such as parenthesis. Therefore, this phase
uses context-free grammar (CFG), which is recognized by push-down automata.
Syntax Analyzers
A syntax analyzer or parser takes the input from a lexical analyzer in the form of token streams.
The parser analyzes the source code (token stream) against the production rules to detect any errors
in the code. The output of this phase is a parse tree.

This way, the parser accomplishes two tasks, i.e., parsing the code, looking for errors and
generating a parse tree as the output of the phase.
Parsers are expected to parse the whole code even if some errors exist in the program. Parsers use
error recovering strategies, which we will learn later in this chapter.
Parse Tree
A parse tree is a graphical depiction of a derivation. It is convenient to see how strings are derived
from the start symbol. The start symbol of the derivation becomes the root of the parse tree. Let us
see this by an example from the last topic.

Types of Parsing
Syntax analyzers follow production rules defined by means of context-free grammar. The way the
production rules are implemented (derivation) divides parsing into two types : top-down parsing
and bottom-up parsing.

Top-down Parsing
When the parser starts constructing the parse tree from the start symbol and then tries to transform
the start symbol to the input, it is called top-down parsing.
 Recursive descent parsing : It is a common form of top-down parsing. It is called
recursive as it uses recursive procedures to process the input. Recursive descent parsing
suffers from backtracking.
 Backtracking : It means, if one derivation of a production fails, the syntax analyzer
restarts the process using different rules of same production. This technique may process
the input string more than once to determine the right production.
Recursive Descent Parsing
Recursive descent is a top-down parsing technique that constructs the parse tree from the top and
the input is read from left to right. It uses procedures for every terminal and non-terminal entity.
This parsing technique recursively parses the input to make a parse tree, which may or may not
require back-tracking. But the grammar associated with it (if not left factored) cannot avoid back-
tracking. A form of recursive-descent parsing that does not require any back-tracking is known
as predictive parsing.
This parsing technique is regarded recursive as it uses context-free grammar which is recursive in
nature.

Back-tracking
Top- down parsers start from the root node (start symbol) and match the input string against the
production rules to replace them (if matched). To understand this, take the following example of
CFG:
S → rXd | rZd
X → oa | ea
Z → ai
For an input string: read, a top-down parser, will behave like this:
It will start with S from the production rules and will match its yield to the left-most letter of the
input, i.e. ‘r’. The very production of S (S → rXd) matches with it. So the top-down parser
advances to the next input letter (i.e. ‘e’). The parser tries to expand non-terminal ‘X’ and checks
its production from the left (X → oa). It does not match with the next input symbol. So the top-
down parser backtracks to obtain the next production rule of X, (X → ea).
Now the parser matches all the input letters in an ordered manner. The string is accepted.

Predictive Parser
Predictive parser is a recursive descent parser, which has the capability to predict which
production is to be used to replace the input string. The predictive parser does not suffer from
backtracking.
To accomplish its tasks, the predictive parser uses a look-ahead pointer, which points to the next
input symbols. To make the parser back-tracking free, the predictive parser puts some constraints
on the grammar and accepts only a class of grammar known as LL(k) grammar.

Predictive parsing uses a stack and a parsing table to parse the input and generate a parse tree.
Both the stack and the input contains an end symbol $to denote that the stack is empty and the
input is consumed. The parser refers to the parsing table to take any decision on the input and
stack element combination.

In recursive descent parsing, the parser may have more than one production to choose from for a
single instance of input, whereas in predictive parser, each step has at most one production to
choose. There might be instances where there is no production matching the input string, making
the parsing procedure to fail.

LL Parser
An LL Parser accepts LL grammar. LL grammar is a subset of context-free grammar but with
some restrictions to get the simplified version, in order to achieve easy implementation. LL
grammar can be implemented by means of both algorithms namely, recursive-descent or table-
driven.
LL parser is denoted as LL(k). The first L in LL(k) is parsing the input from left to right, the
second L in LL(k) stands for left-most derivation and k itself represents the number of look
aheads. Generally k = 1, so LL(k) may also be written as LL(1).
Bottom-up Parsing
As the name suggests, bottom-up parsing starts with the input symbols and tries to construct the
parse tree up to the start symbol.
Bottom-up parsing starts from the leaf nodes of a tree and works in upward direction till it reaches the
root node. Here, we start from a sentence and then apply production rules in reverse manner in order to
reach the start symbol

Shift-Reduce Parsing
Shift-reduce parsing uses two unique steps for bottom-up parsing. These steps are known as shift-
step and reduce-step.
 Shift step: The shift step refers to the advancement of the input pointer to the next input
symbol, which is called the shifted symbol. This symbol is pushed onto the stack. The
shifted symbol is treated as a single node of the parse tree.
 Reduce step : When the parser finds a complete grammar rule (RHS) and replaces it to
(LHS), it is known as reduce-step. This occurs when the top of the stack contains a handle.
To reduce, a POP function is performed on the stack which pops off the handle and
replaces it with LHS non-terminal symbol.
LR Parser
The LR parser is a non-recursive, shift-reduce, bottom-up parser. It uses a wide class of context-
free grammar which makes it the most efficient syntax analysis technique. LR parsers are also
known as LR(k) parsers, where L stands for left-to-right scanning of the input stream; R stands for
the construction of right-most derivation in reverse, and k denotes the number of lookahead
symbols to make decisions.
There are three widely used algorithms available for constructing an LR parser:
 SLR(1) – Simple LR Parser:
o Works on smallest class of grammar
o Few number of states, hence very small table
o Simple and fast construction
 LR(1) – LR Parser:
o Works on complete set of LR(1) Grammar
o Generates large table and large number of states
o Slow construction
 LALR(1) – Look-Ahead LR Parser:
o Works on intermediate size of grammar
o Number of states are same as in SLR(1)
LL vs. LR

LL LR

Does a leftmost derivation. Does a rightmost derivation in reverse.

Starts with the root nonterminal on the Ends with the root nonterminal on the stack.
stack.

Ends when the stack is empty. Starts with an empty stack.

Uses the stack for designating what is still Uses the stack for designating what is
to be expected. already seen.

Builds the parse tree top-down. Builds the parse tree bottom-up.

Continuously pops a nonterminal off the Tries to recognize a right hand side on the
stack, and pushes the corresponding right stack, pops it, and pushes the corresponding
hand side. nonterminal.

Expands the non-terminals. Reduces the non-terminals.

Reads the terminals when it pops one off Reads the terminals while it pushes them on
the stack. the stack.

Pre-order traversal of the parse tree. Post-order traversal of the parse tree.

Linker & Loader

Linker
• Tool that merges the object files produced by separate compilation or assembly and creates an
executable file
• Three tasks
– Searches the program to find library routines used by program, e.g. printf(), math
routines,…
– Determines the memory locations that code from each module will occupy and relocates its
instructions by adjusting absolute references
– Resolves references among files
Loader
In computing, a loader is the part of an operating system that is responsible for loading programs
and libraries. It is one of the essential stages in the process of starting a program, as it places
programs into memory and prepares them for execution. Loading a program involves reading the
contents of the executable file containing the program instructions into memory, and then carrying
out other required preparatory tasks to prepare the executable for running. Once loading is complete,
the operating system starts the program by passing control to the loaded program code.

All operating systems that support program loading have loaders, apart from highly specialized
computer systems that only have a fixed set of specialized programs. Embedded systems typically
do not have loaders, and instead the code executes directly from ROM. In order to load the operating
system itself, as part of booting, a specialized boot loader is used. In many operating systems the
loader is permanently resident in memory, although some operating systems that support virtual
memory may allow the loader to be located in a region of memory that is pageable.

• Part of the OS that brings an executable file residing on disk into memory and starts it running
• Steps
– Read executable file’s header to determine the size of text and data segments
– Create a new address space for the program
– Copies instructions and data into address space
– Copies arguments passed to the program on the stack
– Initializes the machine registers including the stack ptr
– Jumps to a startup routine that copies the program’s arguments from the stack to registers
and calls the program’s main routine

Chapter 4 Macro Processors

A macro processor - Essentially involve the substitution of one group of characters or lines for
another. Normally, it performs no analysis of the text it handles. It doesn’t concern the meaning of the
involved statements during macro expansion
o The design of a macro processor generally is machine independent.

Three examples of actual macro processors:

o A macro processor designed for use by assembler language programmers
o Used with a high-level programming language
o General-purpose macro processor, which is not tied to any particular language

Basic Macro Processors Functions

Macro processor should processes the
Macro definitions: Define macro name, group of instructions
Macro invocation (macro calls): A body is simply copied or substituted at the point of call Expansion
with substitution of parameters. Arguments are textually substituted for the parameters

Macro Definition
Two new assembler directives are used in macro definition:
MACRO: identify the beginning of a macro definition
MEND: identify the end of a macro definition

• label op operands
name MACRO parameters
:
body
:
MEND
• Parameters: the entries in the operand field identify the parameters of the macro
instruction
We require each parameter begins with ‘&’
 • Body: the statements that will be generated as the expansion of the macro.
• Prototype for the macro:
The macro name and parameters define a pattern or prototype for the macro instructions used
by the programmer

Macro Expansion
Each macro invocation statement will be expanded into the statements that form the body of the
macro.
• Arguments from the macro invocation are substituted for the parameters in the macro
prototype.
The arguments and parameters are associated with one another according to their positions.
• The first argument in the macro invocation corresponds to the first parameter in the macro
prototype, etc.

Macro call leads to macro expansion. During macro expansion, the macro call statement is
replaced by a sequence of assembly statements. Two key notions concerning macro expansion
are:
a. Expansion time control flow- this determines the order in which model statements are
visited during macro expansion.
b. Lexical substitution: Lexical substitution is used to generate an assembly statement
from a modal statement.

CHAPTER 5: Deadlocks in
operating system
What is a Deadlock?
Deadlocks are a set of blocked processes each holding a resource and waiting to acquire a resource
held by another process.

Deadlocks in Operating Systems

How to avoid Deadlocks

Deadlocks can be avoided by avoiding at least one of the four conditions, because all this four
conditions are required simultaneously to cause deadlock.
• Mutual Exclusion: Resources shared such as read-only files do not lead to deadlocks but
resources, such as printers and tape drives, requires exclusive access by a single process.
• Hold and Wait: In this condition processes must be prevented from holding one or more
resources while simultaneously waiting for one or more others.
• No Preemption: Preemption of process resource allocations can avoid the condition of deadlocks,
where ever possible.
• Circular Wait: Circular wait can be avoided if we number all resources, and require that
processes request resources only in strictly increasing(or decreasing) order.

Handling Deadlock
The above points focus on preventing deadlocks. But what to do once a deadlock has occured.
Following three strategies can be used to remove deadlock after its occurrence.

• Preemption: We can take a resource from one process and give it to other. This will resolve the
deadlock situation, but sometimes it does causes problems.
• Rollback: In situations where deadlock is a real possibility, the system can periodically make a
record of the state of each process and when deadlock occurs, roll everything back to the last
checkpoint, and restart, but allocating resources differently so that deadlock does not occur.
• Kill one or more processes: This is the simplest way, but it works.

BANKER'S ALGORITHM FOR DEADLOCK AVOIDANCE IN

OPERATING SYSTEM
This approach to the deadlock problem anticipates deadlock before it actually occurs. This
approach employs an algorithm to access the possibility that deadlock could occur and acting
accordingly. This method differs from deadlock prevention, which guarantees that deadlock cannot
occur by denying one of the necessary conditions of deadlock.

If the necessary conditions for a deadlock are in place, it is still possible to avoid deadlock by being
careful when resources are allocated. Perhaps the most famous deadlock avoidance algorithm, due
to Dijkstra [1965], is the Banker’s algorithm. So named because the process is analogous to that
used by a banker in deciding if a loan can be safely made.

Banker’s Algorithm: In this analogy

Customers ≡ processes
resources, say, tape
Units ≡
drive
Banker ≡ Operating System
Used Max
Customers
A 0 6
B 0 5 Available Units
C 0 4 = 10
D 0 7

Fig. 1

In the above figure, we see four customers each of whom has been granted a number of credit nits.
The banker reserved only 10 units rather than 22 units to service them. At certain moment, the
situation becomes
 Customers Used Max
A 1 6
B 1 5 Available Units
C 2 4 =2
D 4 7

Fig. 2

Safe State The key to a state being safe is that there is at least one way for all users to finish. In
other analogy, the state of figure 2 is safe because with 2 units left, the banker can delay any
request exceptC's, thus letting C finish and release all four resources. With four units in hand, the
banker can let either D or B have the necessary units and so on.

Unsafe State Consider what would happen if a request from B for one more unit were granted in
above figure 2.

We would have following situation

Customers Used Max

A 1 6
B 2 5 Available Units
C 2 4 =1
D 4 7

Fig. 3

This is an unsafe state.

If all the customers namely A, B, C, and D asked for their maximum loans, then banker could not
satisfy any of them and we would have a deadlock.

Important Note: It is important to note that an unsafe state does not imply the existence or even
the eventual existence a deadlock. What an unsafe state does imply is simply that some unfortunate
sequence of events might lead to a deadlock.