Sample Answers

Lecture-01
Q 1: What is Operating System? What are the main purpose of an

operating system?
• An Operating System (OS) is an interface between a computer user and
computer hardware.
• An operating system is a software which performs all the basic tasks like
file management, memory management, process management, handling
input and output, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives
and printers.
• There are following main purposes of an operating system:
• System point of view:
• It is designed to make sure that a computer system performs well by managing
its computational activities.
• User point of view:
• It provides an environment for the development and execution of programs.
Lecture-01
Q 2: How have Operating systems been evolving through the years:
• Batch Processing
• Multiprogramming
• Timesharing
Evolution of Operating Systems (O/S) cont…
Batch processing:
• Users of a 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
• The programmers leave their programs with the operator and the operator then sorts
the programs with similar requirements into batches
Batch processing: Advantages
• Batch processing takes much of the work of the operator to the computer
• Increased performance as a new job get started as soon as the previous job is
finished, without any manual intervention
Batch processing: Disadvantages

• Lack of interaction between the user and the job
• CPU is often idle, because the speed of the mechanical I/O devices is slower than
the CPU
• Difficult to provide the desired priority
• Difficult to debug program
• Due to lack of protection scheme, one batch job can affect pending jobs
• Multiprogramming is a technique to execute number of programs
simultaneously by a single processor.
• Objective of multiprogramming is to maximize processor use
• In Time-sharing systems, several users use the computer system
interactively
• Objective of time sharing is to minimize response time
• Timesharing: Advantages Q3: Describe the objective of

• Provides the advantage of quick response
• Each task is given equal importance multiprogramming. How is it
• Reduces CPU idle time different from multitasking?
• Timesharing: Disadvantages
• Problem of reliability (switching is sophisticated)
• Problem of data communication
Lecture-01
Q3: What are the types of Operating System? What is NOS?
Different types of operating system are:
1) Batch operating system.
2) Time-sharing operating systems,
3) Distributed operating Systems,
4) Network operating System (NOS),
5) Real Time operating System
• A Network Operating System (NOS) runs on a server and provides
the server the capability to manage data, users, groups, security,
applications, and other networking functions.
Lecture-01
Q3: What is difference between Soft Real Time and Hard Real Time
Operating Systems?
Real-time systems are used when rigid time requirements have been
placed on the operation of a processor. It has well defined and fixed
time constraints.
It has two types: Soft Real Time and Hard Real Time Operating
Systems.
Difference between Soft Real Time and Hard Real Time Operating
Systems are:
Lecture- 02
Q4: What are the main Components (Concepts) of Operating System?
• Process Management
• Main Memory Management
• File Management
• I/O System Management
• Secondary Storage Management
• Network Management
• Protection System
• Command-Interpreter System
Lecture- 02
Q5: What are the Operating system services for process management?
• The operating system is responsible for the following activities in
connection with process management.
– Process creation and deletion.
– process suspension and resumption.
– Provision of mechanisms for:
• process synchronization
• process communication
Lecture- 02
Q6: How many types of Structures for developing an Operating System?
Following are the types of Structures for developing an Operating System:
1. Simple Structure
2. Monolithic
3. Layered
4. Microkernel
5. Virtual Machines
1. Simple Structure
• There was no user/ kernel mode, and so errors in applications could cause the whole
system to crash.
• OS such as MS-DOS and the original UNIX did not have well-defined structures.
2. Monolithic (one unstructured program)
• Entire OS resides in main memory including everything such as system calls, system
programs, device drivers, etc.
Lecture- 02
Q6: Continue-
3. Layered
• The operating system is divided into a number of
layers (levels), providing different functionalities
– The bottom layer (layer 0) is the hardware;
– the highest (layer N) is the user interface.
• A layer can only use the services provided by layer below
• E.g. Windows NT O/S
Lecture- 02
Q6: Continue-
4. Microkernel
• Move as much functionality as possible from the kernel into user space.
• Only a few essential functions in the kernel
– primitive memory management (address space)
– I/O and interrupt management
– Inter-Process Communication (IPC)
– basic scheduling
• Other OS services are provided by processes running in user mode :
– device drivers, file system, virtual memory…
• E.g. Mac OS
Lecture- 02
Q6: Continue-
5. Virtual Machines
• Virtual Machine: provides an interface that looks like independent
hardware, to multiple different OS running simultaneously on the
same physical hardware
• Usage: development and testing of software that must run on
multiple platforms and/or OS.
• Difficulty: involves the sharing of hard drives, which are generally
partitioned into separate smaller virtual disks for each operating OS

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Sample Answers

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Lecture-01

Q 1: What is Operating System? What are the main purpose of an

Batch processing: Disadvantages

• Timesharing: Advantages Q3: Describe the objective of

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