ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
1.8 OPERATING SYSTEM OVERVIEW: OBJECTIVES AND FUNCTIONS
Operating system acts an interface between applications and the computer hardware.
It can be thought of as having three objectives:
• Convenience
• Efficiency
• Ability to evolve
1.8.1 The Operating System as a User/Computer Interface
• The hardware and software used in providing applications to a user can be viewed in
a layered or hierarchical fashion, as in Figure.
• The user of those applications, the end user, generally is not concerned with the details
of computer hardware.
• Thus, the end user views a computer system in terms of a set of applications.
• An application can be expressed in a programming language and is developed by an
application programmer.
• A set of system programs referred to as utilities implement frequently used functions
that assist in program creation, the management of files, and the control of I/O
devices.
The OS typically provides services in the following areas:
• Program development: The OS provides a variety of facilities and services, such as
editors and debuggers, to assist the programmer in creating programs.
• Program execution: A number of steps need to be performed to execute a program.
• Instructions and data must be loaded into main memory, I/O devices and files must be
initialized, and other resources must be prepared. The OS handles these scheduling
duties for the user.
• Access to I/O devices: The OS provides a uniform interface that hides inner details so
that programmers can access I/O devices using simple reads and writes.
• Controlled access to files: In the case of a system with multiple users, the OS provides
a protection mechanism to control access to the files.
• System access: For shared or public systems, the OS controls access to the system as
a whole and to specific system resources.
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ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
• Error detection and response: A variety of errors can occur while a computer system
is running. In each case, the OS must provide a response that clears the error condition
with the least impact on running applications.
• Accounting: A good OS will collect usage statistics for various resources and monitor
performance parameters such as response time.
Three key interfaces in a typical computer system:
Instruction set architecture (ISA) : The ISA defines the collection of machine language
instructions that a computer can follow. This interface is the boundary between hardware and
software.
Application binary interface (ABI) : The ABI defines a standard for binary portability across
programs. The ABI defines the system call interface to the operating system and the hardware
resources and services available in a system through the user ISA.
Application programming interface (API) : The API gives a program access to the hardware
resources and services available in a system through the user ISA supplemented with high-
level language (HLL) library calls.
1.8.2 The Operating System as Resource Manager
• A computer is a set of resources for the movement, storage, and processing of data
and for the control of these functions.
• The OS is responsible for managing these resources.
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ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
Control mechanism is unusual in two respects:
• The OS functions in the same way as ordinary computer software; that is, it is a
program or suite of programs executed by the processor.
• The OS frequently relinquishes control and must depend on the processor to allow it
to regain control.
1.8.3 Ease of Evolution of an Operating System
A major OS will evolve over time for a number of reasons:
• Hardware upgrades plus new types of hardware
• New services
• Fixes
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