Unit 2 Systems Software and Applications Flashcards
What does the Operating System do?
Manages the hardware and provides an interface for the user and the application software
What functions does the OS provide? (4)
- User interface
- Memory management
- Interrupt handling
- Processor scheduling
What is Paging?
Available memory is divided into fixed chunks(pages). Each page has an address. Each running program in RAM is given sufficient pages but pages may not be contiguous
What is Segmentation?
Memory is divided into segments that can be different lengths. A particular function or subroutine occupies each segment
When does the CPU check for Interruptions?
After each clock cycle
How does a Stack work?
When an interrupt occurs, the processor stops fetching instructions and pushes its contents of its registers on a stack. First on, last off
What is a Round Robin?
Each job is given a fixed time slice and if its not completed in time the next job is allocated a time slice
What is First Come First Serve?
The first job to arrive is executed until it completes
What is Shortest Remaining Time?
Each has job an estimated completion time. The job with the shortest remaining time to completion is executed, meaning that a shorter new job can take over from the current process
What is Shortest Job Time?
Each job has a completion time estimated by the user. The job with the shortest completion time is executed when the current job completes
What is a Multi Level Feedback Queue?
Multiple queues are created with different priority levels. If a job uses too much CPU time it is moved to a lower priority queue. Processes can also be moved to a higher priority queue if they have waited a long time
What can Distributed Operating System do?
Coordinate the processing of a single job across multiple computers
What is BIOS?
Basic Input Output System
Boots the computer at start-up. Stored in ROM
What is a Device Driver?
A program that provides an interface for the OS to interact with a device. Drivers are hardware dependent and OS specific
What is a Virtual Machine?
A compute resource that uses software instead of a physical computer to run programs and deploy apps
What are the different types of System Software? (4)
- Operating System
- Utilities
- Libraries
- Translators
What functions do the OS provide? (4)
- Provide a user interface
- Handle memory management
- Interrupt handling
- Processor scheduling to provide ‘multi-tasking’
What does a Disk Defragmenter do?
Reorganizes the hard drive so that files are in sequential blocks where possible which makes reading quicker