Page 52 - DCAP507_SYSTEM_SOFTWARE

System Software

Notes Distributed System: A computer systems in which computation tasks are distributed among
several processors.
Error Detection: This is a process where the operating system constantly monitors the system
for detecting the malfunctioning of it.
Exokernel: It is an operating system kernel developed by the MIT for Parallel and Distributed
Operating Systems group, and also a class of similar operating systems.
I/O Operations: It refers to the communication between an information processing system and
the outside world - possibly a human, or another information processing system.

Layered Systems: This is an operating system structure where the operating system is organized
as a hierarchy of layers, each one constructed upon the one below it. Here the system had 6
layers.
Monolithic Systems: This is an operating system structure where it is written as a collection of
procedures, each of which can call any of the other ones whenever it needs to.

Multiprogramming: A style of programming in which multiple programs can share the resources
appearing to be executing simultaneously.
Operating System: An operating system is itself a computer program which must be executed.

Parallel System: A system that is capable of executing a number of programs parallely.
Process Communication: A processes need to communicate with other process or with the user
to exchange the information, this is known as Process Communication.

Program Execution: Program execution is a method in which user given commands call up a
processes and pass data to them.
Real Time System: A special-purpose operating system in which there are rigid time requirements
on the operation of a processor or the flow of data.
Time Sharing: A mode of programming in which the CPU is shared between multiple programs
each getting a share of CPU time in turn.
Virtual Machines: The virtual machine monitor runs on the bare hardware at the heart of the
system and does the multiprogramming, providing not one, but several virtual machines to the
next layer up.

2.8 Review Questions

1. Elucidate process management briefly.
2. Illustrate the process of file management and I/O system management.

3. Do you think a single user system requires process communication? Support your answer
with logic.
4. Suppose a user program faced an error during memory access. What will it do then? Will
it be informed to the OS? Explain.
5. How information (parameters) is passed between a running program and the operating
system?
6. What is Exokernel? How it is structured?
7. Is client-Server Model the only model for all the operating systems which support network
services?

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