This course presents the evolution of computer operating systems, operating system functionalities, and current design and implementation techniques.   Relationships between the operating system, computer architecture, and the user community are discussed.   Three lecture hours per week.
Prerequisite: CSC 260.

• CG1: to present a descriptive overview of modern operating systems, their purposes and design principles;
• CG2: to discuss the most important ingredients, techniques, and algorithms used in their construction.

• CO1: summarize the development of operating systems from single-user and batch processing mainframes to modern multitasking systems;
• CO2: describe the mechanisms of interrupts and Direct Memory Access;
• CO3: describe how a process or task is represented in a modern computer system;
• CO4: differentiate between the concepts of process and thread and describe the behavior of a multithreaded system;
• CO5: describe the system components, actions, and algorithms involved in scheduling and managing concurrent processes;
• CO6: describe the concept of deadlock and the common techniques for recognizing, predicting, avoiding, and recovering from it;
• CO7: describe the common techniques and problems involved in memory management, including paging and virtual memory;
• CO8: describe the common techniques and problems involved in management of disk storage;
• CO9: describe the common techniques and problems involved in file management.

• introduction:
  • What is an operating system?
  • functions and goals of an operating system
  • principal components
• review of relevant topics in computer hardware, architecture and organization
• evolution of operating systems
  • resident monitors (single-user systems)
  • multiprogramming
  • time-sharing
  • networks and distributed processing
  • multiprocessing
• operating system structures
  • system services, system calls
  • interrupts and interrupt handling
  • kernel of an operating system
  • layered structure
  • virtual machines
• evaluation of system performance
• protection and security mechanisms
• process management
  • the process concept
  • representation of processes
  • concurrent processes
  • CPU scheduling and scheduling algorithms
  • multiprocessor scheduling
• process coordination
  • classical synchronization problems
    • Critical Section Problem, Bounded Buffer Problem,
      Readers & Writers Problem, etc.
  • synchronization mechanisms
    • hardware
    • semaphores
    • language constructs
  • interprocess communication, message systems
• deadlocks
  • characterization, detection, prevention, avoidance, recovery
• storage management
  • memory management
  • swapping
  • paging
  • segmentation
  • virtual memory
    • demand paging
    • page replacement algorithms
    • frame allocation algorithms
    • thrashing
  • secondary storage management
    • disk structure
    • allocation methods
    • scheduling algorithms
• file management
  • file systems
  • access methods
  • file protection
• distributed systems
  • network topologies and types
  • coordination and deadlock in distributed systems
  • distributed file systems

      The focus of the course is on a general discussion of the nature and functionality of operating systems.   There is no extended treatment of specific case studies, although examples drawn from specific systems are used to illustrate major concepts.

Assignments:   Weekly reading assignments in the text and in other books and journals provide the background for lecture topics.   It is assumed that the reading has been done before the class discussion of the associated material.
      Approximately eight written assignments with specific deadlines cover such topics as development, analysis, and comparison of scheduling and allocation algorithms, synchronization of concurrent processes, resource allocation graphs, problems in paging and virtual memory systems, disk scheduling, etc.
      Depending on the availability of appropriate hardware and software, some of the written assignments may be replaced by short programming assignments on the same topics.

Examinations:   A mid-term examination and a comprehensive written final examination are given, as well as a number of short quizzes on specific topics announced in advance.

      The course grade is determined using the following approximate weights:   written assignments - 30%; short quizzes - 20%; midterm examination - 20%; final examination - 30%;

• Davis, William S.; Rajkumar, T. J. Operating Systems: A Systematic View.   Fifth Edition. Addison Wesley, 2001.
• Deitel, H. M.; Deitel, P. J.; Choffnes, D. R.   Operating Systems.   Third Edition.   Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004.
• Nutt, Gary J.   Operating Systems: A Modern Perspective. Third Edition. Addison Wesley, 2004.
• Stallings, William.   Operating Systems:   Internals and Design Principles.   Fifth Edition.   Prentice-Hall, 2005.
• Silberschatz, Abraham; Galvin, Peter B.; Gagne, Greg.   Operating System Concepts.   Seventh Edition.   John Wiley & Sons, 2005.
• Tannenbaum, Andrew S.   Modern Operating Systems.   Second Edition. Prentice Hall, 2001.
• Tannenbaum, Andrew S.; Woodhull, Albert S.   Operating Systems.   Design and Implementation.   Third Edition.   Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2006.