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AGRICULTURE & TECHNOLOGY
JKUAT SODeL
Nairobi, Kenya
E-mail: elearning@jkuat.ac.ke
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This presentation is intended to covered within one week.
The notes, examples and exercises should be supple-
mented with a good textbook. Most of the exercises have
solutions/answers appearing elsewhere and accessible by
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LESSON 5
Introduction to Computer Software
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5.1. What is Software?
In the earlier chapters of this module we have been focusing on
the physical or tangible parts or the computer system. We now
turn to the intangible part which we globally call software. But
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Software is needed to support input, processing, output, stor-
age and control all activities within the computer system. There-
fore, it is regarded as the soul of the computer system while
hardware is regarded as the body of the computer system.
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System software is normally supplied by the manufacturers
of computer hardware. In most cases it is usually pre-installed
into the computers before they are distributed for sale. However
one may change or upgrade the system software, at will. System
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JKUAT SODeL
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universally agreed upon definition of the concept of an operating
system, we offer the following as a reasonable starting point:
A computers operating system (OS) is a group of programs
designed to serve three basic purposes:
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tion programs.
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5.2.3. Types of Operating Systems
In this section we present types of operating system includ-
ing definitions of terminologies and concepts that are associated
with the classification and development of operating systems.
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batch, and subsequently placed on an input queue at the com-
puter where they will be run. In this case, the user has no
interaction with the job during its processing.
In time sharing operating systems, a computer provides com-
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or even disaster. Examples of real time operating systems are
those which handle airlines reservations, machine tool control,
and monitoring of a nuclear power stations.
In fact, many computer operating systems are hybrids, pro-
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tem, but note that a multiprogramming system is not necessarily
a time-sharing system. A batch or real time operating system
could, and indeed usually does, have more than one active user
program simultaneously in main storage.
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among the other computers with which it is connected.
A distributed computing system consists of a number of com-
puters that are connected and managed so that they automati-
cally share the job processing load among the constituent com-
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another. Each machine runs its own local operating system and
has its own user (or users).
A distributed operating system, in contrast, is one that ap-
pears to its users as a traditional uniprocessor system, even
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of the operating systems.
True distributed operating systems require more than just
adding a little code to a uniprocessor operating system, because
distributed and centralized systems differ in critical ways. Dis-
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It is very important that the goals of the system be will defined
before the design begins. The type of system desired is the foun-
dation for chokes between various algorithms and strategies that
will be necessary.
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Process Management
The CPU executes a large number of programs. While its main
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concern is the execution of user programs, the CPU is also
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needed for other system activities. These activities are called
processes. A process is a program in execution. Typically, a
batch job is a process. A time-shared user program is a process.
A system task, such as spooling, is also a process. For now, a
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approprite program to obtain the desired information.
We emphasize that a program by itself is not a process; a
program is a passive entity, while a process is an active entity.
It is known that two processes may be associated with the same
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cesses
The suspension and resumption of processes.
The provision of mechanisms for process synchronization
The provision of mechanisms for deadlock handling.
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Memory Management
Memory is central to the operation of a modern computer sys-
tem. Memory is a large array of words or bytes, each with its
own address. Interaction is achieved through a sequence of reads
or writes of sprcific memory address. The CPU fetches from and
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J I In order for a program to be executed it must be mapped to
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absolute addresses and loaded in to memory. As the program
executes, it acesses program instructions and data from memory
by generating these absolute is declared available, and the next
program may be loaded and executed.
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used and by whom.
Decide which processes are to be loaded into memory when
memory space becomes available.
Allocate and reallocate memory space as needed.
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primary on-line storage of information, of both programs and
data. Most programs, like compilers, assemblers, sort routines,
editors, formatters, and so on, are stored on the disk until loaded
into memory, and then use the disk as both the source and des-
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Disk scheduling.
I/O System One of the purposes of an operating system is to
hide the peculiarities os specific hardware devices from the user.
For example, in Unix, the peculiarities of I/O devices are hidden
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from the bulk of the operating system itself by the I/O system.
The I/O system consists of:
A buffer caching system
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File Management
File management is one of the most visible services of an operat-
ing system. Computers can store information in several different
physical forms; magnetic tape, disk, and drum are the most com-
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or alphanumeric. Files may be free-form, such as text files, or
may be rigidly formatted. In general a file is a sequence of bits,
bytes, lines or records whose meaning is defined by its creator
and user. It is a very general concept.
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the use. Finally, when multiple users have access to files, it may
be desirable to control by whom and in what ways files may be
accessed.
The operating system is responsible for the following activi-
ties in connection with file management:
JJ II The creation and deletion of files
J I The creation and deletion of directory
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The support of primitives for manipulating files and direc-
tories
The mapping of files onto disk storage.
Backup of files on stable (non volatile) storage.
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Protection System
The various processes in an operating system must be protected
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timer ensures that no process can gain control of the CPU with-
out relinquishing it. Finally, no process is allowed to do its own
I/O, to protect the integrity of the various peripheral devices.
Protection refers to a mechanism for controlling the access of
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5.2.4. Networking
A distributed system is a collection of processors that do not
share memory or a clock. Instead, each processor has its own
local memory, and the processors communicate with each other
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A distributed system provides the user with access to the var-
ious resources the system maintains. Access to a shared resource
allows computation speed-up, data availability, and reliability.
primary interface between the user and the rest of the system.
Many commands are given to the operating system by con-
trol statements. When a new job is started in a batch system or
when a user logs-in to a time-shared system, a program which
reads and interprets control statements is automatically exe-
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J I 1. the control card interpreter
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2. the command line interpreter
3. the shell (in Unix), and so on. Its function is quite simple:
get the next command statement, and execute it.
The command statement themselves deal with process manage-
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all computer programs whether general purpose or special pur-
poses. A program is a coded set of instructions that interprets
the information from the input and instructs the computer what
should be done with it. It is created by programmers, using pro-
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gramming languages.
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