Outline (Chapters 1 and 2) : Introduce Important Concepts (Caching)
Outline (Chapters 1 and 2) : Introduce Important Concepts (Caching)
Chapter 1
Introduce important concepts (caching)
Chapter 2
Interacting with services provided by the OS
System calls - link between application programs and OS System programs - users interact using programs
The original slides were copyright Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne, 2005
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Storage structure
Computer programs must be stored in main memory
Fast memory is expensive - we use hierarchy and move stuff around to achieve cost benefits and speed Implicit or explicit
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Caching principle
Caching is an important principle, performed at many levels in a computer (in hardware, operating system, software) Information in use is copied from slower to faster storage temporarily Faster storage (cache) checked first to determine if information is there
If it is (cache hit), information used directly from the cache (fast) If not (cache miss), data copied to cache and used there
May need to evict some other data (cache replacement)
Interfacing with OS
User interface - Almost all operating systems have a user interface (UI). Varies between
Command-Line (CLI) (e.g., shells in UNIX, command.exe in Windows). The command line may itself perform functions or call other system programs to implement functions (e.g. in UNIX, /bin/rm to remove files) [more later] Graphics User Interface (GUI) (e.g., MS windows, MAC OS X Aqua, Unix X & variants). point and click interface Batch. Commands are given using a file/command script to the OS and are executed with little user interaction. Used in high performance computers. (e.g. .bat files in DOS, shell scripts, JCL interpreters for Main frames)
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System Calls
Programming interface to the services provided by the OS Typically written in a high-level language (C, C++) Mostly accessed by programs via a high-level Application Program Interface (API) rather than direct system call use Three most common APIs are Win32 API for Windows, POSIX API for POSIX-based systems (including virtually all versions of UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS X), and Java API for the Java virtual machine (JVM) Why use APIs rather than system calls?
Underlying systems calls (error codes) can be more complicated. API gives a uniform, portable interface
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The system call interface invokes intended system call in OS kernel and returns status of the system call and any return values The caller need know nothing about how the system call is implemented
Just needs to obey API and understand what OS will do as a result call Details of OS interface hidden from programmer by API
Managed by run-time support library (set of functions built into libraries included with compiler)
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Parameters stored in a block, or table, in memory, and address of block passed as a parameter in a register
This approach taken by Linux and Solaris
Parameters placed, or pushed, onto the stack by the program and popped off the stack by the operating system
Block and stack methods do not limit the number or length of parameters being passed
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System Programs
Provide a convenient environment for program development and execution. Some of them are simply user interfaces to system calls; others are considerably more complex
File management - Create, delete, copy, edit, rename, print, dump, list, and generally manipulate files and directories Programming-language support - Compilers, assemblers, debuggers and interpreters sometimes provided Program loading and execution- Absolute loaders, relocatable loaders, linkage editors, and overlay-loaders, debugging systems for higher-level and machine language Communications - chat, web browsing, email, remote login, file transfers Status information - system info such as date, time, amount of available memory, disk space, number of users
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System Boot
Operating system must be made available to hardware so hardware can start it
Small piece of code bootstrap loader, locates the kernel, loads it into memory, and starts it Sometimes two-step process where boot block at fixed location loads bootstrap loader When power initialized on system, execution starts at a fixed memory location
Firmware used to hold initial boot code
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Wrapup
System calls provide a mechanism for user programs to access OS services
System programs use system calls to provide functionality to users
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Important principle to separate Policy: What will be done? Mechanism: How to do it?
The separation of policy from mechanism is a very important principle, it allows maximum flexibility if policy decisions are to be changed later
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