This course is a prerequisite for Concurrent Systems and Applications (Part IB), Operating Systems II (Part IB), Introduction to Security (Part IB), Security (Part II).
Aims
The overall aim of this course is to provide a general understanding
of how a computer works. This includes aspects of the underlying
hardware as well as the structure and key functions of the operating
system. Case studies will be used to illustrate and reinforce
fundamental concepts.
Lectures
Computer architecture foundations. History: from vacuum
tubes to VLSI. Von Neumann architecture. Hardware/software layers
and languages. [1 lecture]
Operation of a simple computer. Overview: processors,
memory, buses, devices. Memory: concepts, structures, hierarchy.
Processor: control and execution units. ALU and computer
arithmetic. Logical and Conditional Operations. Branches. Memory
access. Data representation: (integers), text, reals, compound
structures, instructions. Fetch-Execute Cycle Revisited. General
I/O architecture. Example devices. Buses: general operation,
hierarchy, synchronous versus asynchronous. Interrupts.
Direct Memory Access. [3 lectures]
Introduction to operating systems. Abstract view of an
operating system. OS Evolution: multi-programming, time-sharing.
Dual-mode operation. Protecting I/O, memory, CPU. Kernels and
micro-kernels. [1 lecture]
Memory management. Processes in memory. Logical
addresses. Partitions: static versus dynamic, free space
management, external fragmentation. Segmented memory. Paged memory:
concepts, internal fragmentation, page tables. Comparison. Software
segments. [1 lecture]
I/O subsystem. General structure. Polled mode versus interrupt-driven I/O. Application I/O interface: block
and character devices, buffering, blocking versus non-blocking
I/O. Other issues: caching, scheduling, spooling, performance.
[1 lecture]
File management. File concept. Directory and storage
services. File names and meta-data. Directory name-space:
hierarchies, DAGs, hard and soft links. File operations. Access
control. Existence and concurrency control. [1 lecture]
Unix case study. History. General structure. Unix file
system: file abstraction, directories, mount points, implementation
details. Processes: memory image, life cycle, start of day. The
shell: basic operation, commands, standard I/O, redirection, pipes,
signals. Character and block I/O. Process scheduling. [2 lectures]
Windows 2000 case study. History. Design principles.
Overall architecture. HAL. Kernel: objects, processes, threads,
scheduling. Executive: object manager and object namespace, process
manager, VM manager, I/O manager. File-System. [1 lecture]
Objectives
At the end of the course students should be able to
describe the fetch-execute cycle of a simple computer with
reference to the control and execution units
understand the different types of information which may be
stored within a computer memory
explain the concepts of process, address space, and file
compare and contrast various CPU scheduling algorithms
understand the differences between segmented and paged memories,
and be able to describe the advantages and disadvantages of each
compare and contrast polled, interrupt-driven and DMA-based
access to I/O devices
Recommended books
Tanenbaum, A.S. (1990). Structured computer organisation.
Prentice-Hall (3rd ed).
Patterson, D. & Hennessy, J. (1998). Computer organisation and design.
Morgan Kaufmann (2nd ed.).
* Bacon, J. & Harris, T. (2003). Operating systems. Addison-Wesley (3rd ed.).
Silberschatz, A., Peterson, J.L. & Galvin, P.C. (1998). Operating systems concepts. Addison-Wesley (5th or 6th ed.).
Leffler, S. (1989). The design and implementation of the 4.3BSD Unix
operating system. Addison-Wesley.
Solomon, D. & Russinovich, M. (2000). Inside Windows 2000. Microsoft Press (3rd ed.).
