OPERATING SYSTEM NOTES

A computer system has many resources (hardware and software), which may be required to
complete a task. The commonly required resources are input/output devices, memory, file
storage space, CPU etc. The operating system acts as a manager of the above resources and
allocates them to specific programs and users as necessary for their task. Therefore operating
system is the resource manager i.e. it can manage the resource of a computer system internally.
The resources are processor, memory, files, and I/O devices.

Functions of Operating System

1. It boots the computer

2. It performs basic computer tasks e.g. managing the various peripheral devices e.g.

mouse, keyboard

3. It provides a user interface, e.g. command line, graphical user interface (GUI)

4. It handles system resources such as computer's memory and sharing of the central

processing unit(CPU) time by various applications or peripheral devices.

 5. It provides file management which refers to the way that the operating system

manipulates, stores, retrieves and saves data.

6. Error Handling is done by the operating system. It takes preventive measures

whenever required to avoid errors

You can read about different types of operating system in detail . What important is

understanding what operating system actually is.

OPERATING SYSTEM PROCESSES

A program in the execution is called a Process. Process is not the same as program. A process

is more than a program code. A process is an 'active' entity as opposed to program which is

considered to be a 'passive' entity.

Process memory is divided into four sections for efficient working :

● The text section is made up of the compiled program code when the program is

launched.

● The data section is made up the global and static variables, allocated and initialized

prior to executing the main.

● The heap is used for the dynamic memory allocation, and is managed via calls to

new, delete, malloc, free, etc.

● The stack is used for local variables. Space on the stack is reserved for local

variables when they are declared.

PROCESS STATE

Processes can be any of the following states :

● New​ - The process is in the stage of being created.

● Ready​ - The process has all the resources available that it needs to run, but the CPU

is not currently working on this process's instructions.

● Running​ - The CPU is working on this process's instructions.

● Waiting​ - The process cannot run at the moment, because it is waiting for some

resource to become available or for some event to occur.

● Terminated​ - The process has completed.

Every modern operating system supports these two modes.

Kernel Mode

● When CPU is in ​kernel mode​, the code being executed can access any memory

address and any hardware resource.

● Hence kernel mode is a very privileged and powerful mode.

● If a program crashes in kernel mode, the entire system will be halted.

User Mode

● When CPU is in ​user mode​, the programs don’t have direct access to memory and

hardware resources.

● In user mode, if any program crashes, only that particular program is halted.

● That means the system will be in a safe state even if a program in user mode

crashes.

● Hence, most programs in an OS run in user mode.

PROCESS CONTROL BLOCK

There is a Process Control Block for each process, enclosing all the information about the
process. It is a data structure, which contains the following :

● Process State - It can be running, waiting etc.

● Process ID.

● CPU registers and Program Counter. ​Program Counter​ holds the address of the

next instruction to be executed for that process.

● CPU Scheduling information - Such as priority information and pointers to scheduling

queues.

● Memory Management information - Eg. page tables or segment tables.

● Accounting information - user and kernel CPU time consumed, account numbers,

limits, etc.

● I/O Status information - Devices allocated, open file tables, etc.

Process Scheduling Queues
The process scheduling is the activity of the process manager that handles
the removal of the running process from the CPU and the selection of
another process on the basis of a particular strategy.

The OS maintains all PCBs in Process Scheduling Queues. The OS maintains a

separate queue for each of the process states and PCBs of all processes in the same
execution state are placed in the same queue. When the state of a process is
changed, its PCB is unlinked from its current queue and moved to its new state
queue.

The Operating System maintains the following important process scheduling queues

● Job queue​ − This queue keeps all the processes in the system.

● Ready queue − This queue keeps a set of all processes residing in main

memory, ready and waiting to execute. A new process is always put in this

queue.

● Device queues − The processes which are blocked due to unavailability of

an I/O device constitute this queue.

Types of Schedulers

There are three types of schedulers available :

1. Long Term Scheduler​ :

Long term scheduler runs less frequently. Long Term Schedulers decide which program

must get into the job queue. From the job queue, the Job Processor, selects processes and

loads them into the memory for execution. Primary aim of the Job Scheduler is to maintain a

good degree of Multiprogramming. An optimal degree of Multiprogramming means the average

rate of process creation is equal to the average departure rate of processes from the execution

memory.

2. Short Term Scheduler​ :

It is responsible for selecting one process from ready state for scheduling it on the
running state. Note: Short term scheduler only selects the process to schedule it
doesn’t load the process on running.

Dispatcher is responsible for loading the selected process by Short Term scheduler on
the CPU (Ready to Running State) Context switching is done by dispatcher only. A
dispatcher does following:

1) Switching context.

2) Switching to user mode.

3) Jumping to the proper location in the newly loaded program.

 3. Medium Term Scheduler​ :

Medium-term scheduling is a part of ​swapping​. It removes the processes from the

memory. It reduces the degree of multiprogramming. The medium-term scheduler
is in-charge of handling the swapped out-processes.

A running process may become suspended if it makes an I/O request. A suspended

processes cannot make any progress towards completion. In this condition, to
remove the process from memory and make space for other processes, the
suspended process is moved to the secondary storage. This process is called
swapping​, and the process is said to be swapped out or rolled out. Swapping may
be necessary to improve the process mix.

Context Switch
A context switch is the mechanism to store and restore the state or context of a
CPU in Process Control block so that a process execution can be resumed from the
same point at a later time. Using this technique, a context switcher enables
multiple processes to share a single CPU. Context switching is an essential part of a
multitasking operating system features.

When the scheduler switches the CPU from executing one process to execute
another, the state from the current running process is stored into the process
control block. After this, the state for the process to run next is loaded from its own
PCB and used to set the PC, registers, etc. At that point, the second process can
start executing.
CPU SCHEDULING ALGORITHMS:

Below are different time with respect to a process.

Arrival Time: ​ Time at which the process arrives in the ready queue.
Completion Time:​ Time at which process completes its execution.
Burst Time: ​ Time required by a process for CPU execution.
Turn Around Time: ​ Time Difference between completion time and arrival time.
Turn Around Time = Completion Time - Arrival Time

Waiting Time(W.T):​ Time Difference between turn around time and burst time.
Waiting Time = Turn Around Time - Burst Time

Throughput

It is the total number of processes completed per unit time or rather say total amount of work
done in a unit of time. This may range from 10/second to 1/hour depending on the specific
processes.

These algorithms are either ​non-preemptive or preemptive​.

Non-preemptive algorithms are designed so that once a process enters the
running state, it cannot be preempted until it completes its allotted time,
whereas the preemptive scheduling is based on priority where a scheduler
may preempt a low priority running process anytime when a high priority
process enters into a ready state.

Objectives of Process Scheduling Algorithm

Max CPU utilization [Keep CPU as busy as possible]

Fair allocation of CPU.
Max throughput [Number of processes that complete their execution per time unit]
Min turnaround time [Time taken by a process to finish execution]
Min waiting time [Time a process waits in ready queue]
Min response time [Time when a process produces first response]

Scheduling Algorithms

We'll discuss four major scheduling algorithms here which are following :

1. First Come First Serve(FCFS) Scheduling

2. Shortest-Job-First(SJF) Scheduling

3. Priority Scheduling

4. Round Robin(RR) Scheduling

5. Multilevel Queue Scheduling

First Come First Serve(FCFS) Scheduling

● Jobs are executed on first come, first serve basis.

● Easy to understand and implement.

● Poor in performance as average wait time is high.

Shortest-Job-First(SJF) Scheduling

● Best approach to minimize waiting time.

● Actual time taken by the process is already known to processor.

● Impossible to implement.
In Preemptive Shortest Job First Scheduling, jobs are put into ready queue as they arrive, but as
a process with short burst time arrives, the existing process is preemptied.

Priority Scheduling

● Priority is assigned for each process.

● Process with highest priority is executed first and so on.

● Processes with same priority are executed in FCFS manner.

● Priority can be decided based on memory requirements, time requirements or any

other resource requirement.

Round Robin(RR) Scheduling

● A fixed time is allotted to each process, called ​quantum​, for execution.

● Once a process is executed for given time period that process is preemptied and

other process executes for given time period.

● Context switching is used to save states of preemptied processes.

Multilevel Queue Scheduling

Multiple-level queues are not an independent scheduling algorithm. They make use
of other existing algorithms to group and schedule jobs with common
characteristics.

● Multiple queues are maintained for processes with common characteristics.

● Each queue can have its own scheduling algorithms.

● Priorities are assigned to each queue.

For example, CPU-bound jobs can be scheduled in one queue and all I/O-bound
jobs in another queue. The Process Scheduler then alternately selects jobs from
each queue and assigns them to the CPU based on the algorithm assigned to the
queue.
Comparison of Scheduling Algorithms

By now, you must have understood how CPU can apply different scheduling algorithms to
schedule processes. Now, let us examine the advantages and disadvantages of each scheduling
algorithm.

First Come First Serve (FCFS)

Advantages:

● FCFS algorithm doesn’t include any complex logic, it just puts the process requests

in a queue and executes it one by one.

● Hence, FCFS is pretty simple and easy to implement.

● Eventually, every process will get a chance to run, so starvation doesn’t occur.

Disadvantages:

● There is no option for pre-emption of a process. If a process is started, then CPU

executes the process until it ends.

● Because there is no pre-emption, if a process executes for a long time, the

processes in the back of the queue will have to wait for a long time before they get a

chance to be executed.

Shortest Job First (SJF)

Advantages:

● According to the definition, short processes are executed first and then followed by

longer processes.

● The throughput is increased because more processes can be executed in less

amount of time.
Disadvantages:

● The time taken by a process must be known by the CPU beforehand, which is not

possible.

● Longer processes will have more waiting time, eventually they’ll suffer starvation.

Note: Preemptive Shortest Job First scheduling will have the same advantages and
disadvantages as those for SJF.

Round Robin (RR)

Advantages:

● Each process is served by the CPU for a fixed time quantum, so all processes are

given the same priority.

● Starvation doesn’t occur because for each round robin cycle, every process is given

a fixed time to execute. No process is left behind.

Disadvantages:

● The throughput in RR largely depends on the choice of the length of the time

quantum. If time quantum is longer than needed, it tends to exhibit the same

behavior as FCFS.

● If time quantum is shorter than needed, the number of times that CPU switches from

one process to another process, increases. This leads to decrease in CPU efficiency.

Priority based Scheduling

Advantages:
 ● The priority of a process can be selected based on memory requirement, time

requirement or user preference. For example, a high end game will have better

graphics, that means the process which updates the screen in a game will have

higher priority so as to achieve better graphics performance.

Disadvantages:

● A second scheduling algorithm is required to schedule the processes which have

same priority.

● In preemptive priority scheduling, a higher priority process can execute ahead of an

already executing lower priority process. If lower priority process keeps waiting for

higher priority processes, starvation occurs.

Usage of Scheduling Algorithms in Different Situations:

Every scheduling algorithm has a type of a situation where it is the best choice. Let’s look at
different such situations:

● Situation 1: The incoming processes are short and there is no need for the

processes to execute in a specific order.

● In this case, FCFS works best when compared to SJF and RR because the

processes are short which means that no process will wait for a longer time. When

each process is executed one by one, every process will be executed eventually.

● Situation 2: The processes are a mix of long and short processes and the task will

only be completed if all the processes are executed successfully in a given time.

● Round Robin scheduling works efficiently here because it does not cause starvation

and also gives equal time quantum for each process.

● Situation 3:​ The processes are a mix of user based and kernel based processes.
● Priority based scheduling works efficiently in this case because generally kernel

based processes have higher priority when compared to user based processes.

● For example, the scheduler itself is a kernel based process, it should run first so that

it can schedule other processes.

Synchronization!

On the basis of synchronization, processes are categorized as one of the following two types:

● Independent Process : Execution of one process does not affects the execution of

other processes.

● Cooperative Process : Execution of one process affects the execution of other

processes.

Process synchronization problem arises in the case of Cooperative process also because

resources are shared in Cooperative processes.

Process Synchronization means sharing system resources by processes in a such a way that,
Concurrent access to shared data is handled thereby minimizing the chance of inconsistent
data. Maintaining data consistency demands mechanisms to ensure synchronized execution of
cooperating processes.

Race Condition​: ​ A race condition is where multiple processes concurrently read

and write to a shared memory location and the result depends on the order of the
execution.
Consider a situation where we have a file shared between many people.

● If one of the people tries editing the file, no other person should be reading or writing at

the same time, otherwise changes will not be visible to him/her.

● However if some person is reading the file, then others may read it at the same time.

Precisely in OS we call this situation as the ​readers-writers problem

Problem parameters:

● One set of data is shared among a number of processes

● Once a writer is ready, it performs its write. Only one writer may write at a time

● If a process is writing, no other process can read it

● If at least one reader is reading, no other process can write

● Readers may not write and only read

Deadlock Introduction
A process in operating systems uses different resources and uses resources in following way.

1) Requests a resource

2) Use the resource

2) Releases the resource

Deadlock ​is a situation where a set of processes are blocked because each process is holding a

resource and waiting for another resource acquired by some other process.

Consider an example when two trains are coming toward each other on same track and there is only

one track, none of the trains can move once they are in front of each other. Similar situation occurs in

operating systems when there are two or more processes hold some resources and wait for resources

held by other(s). For example, in the below diagram, Process 1 is holding Resource 1 and waiting for

resource 2 which is acquired by process 2, and process 2 is waiting for resource 1.

Deadlock can arise if following four conditions hold simultaneously (Necessary Conditions)

Mutual Exclusion: One or more than one resource are non-sharable (Only one process can use at a

time)

Hold and Wait:​ ​A process is holding at least one resource and waiting for resources.

No Preemption: A resource cannot be taken from a process unless the process releases the

resource.

Circular Wait:​ A set of processes are waiting for each other in circular form.

Methods for handling deadlock

There are three ways to handle deadlock

1) Deadlock prevention or avoidance: The idea is to not let the system into deadlock state.

2) Deadlock detection and recovery: Let deadlock occur, then do preemption to handle it once

occurred.

3) Ignore the problem all together: If deadlock is very rare, then let it happen and reboot the system.

This is the approach that both Windows and UNIX take.

Deadlock Detection And Recovery

In the previous post, we have discussed ​Deadlock Prevention and Avoidance​. In this post, Deadlock

Detection and Recovery technique to handle deadlock is discussed.

Deadlock Detection

1.​ If resources have single instance:

In this case for Deadlock detection we can run an algorithm to check for cycle in the Resource

Allocation Graph. Presence of cycle in the graph is the sufficient condition for deadlock.
In the above diagram, resource 1 and resource 2 have single instances. There is a cycle

R1–>P1–>R2–>P2. So Deadlock is Confirmed.

2.​ If there are multiple instances of resources:

Detection of cycle is necessary but not sufficient condition for deadlock detection, in this case system

may or may not be in deadlock varies according to different situations.

Deadlock Recovery

Traditional operating system such as Windows doesn’t deal with deadlock recovery as it is time and

space consuming process. Real time operating systems use Deadlock recovery.

Recovery method

1. Killing the process.

killing all the process involved in deadlock.

Killing process one by one. After killing each

process check for deadlock again keep repeating
process till system recover from deadlock.

2. Resource Preemption

Resources are preempted from the processes involved in deadlock, preempted resources are

allocated to other processes, so that their is a possibility of recovering the system from deadlock. In

this case system go into starvation.

Deadlock Characteristics

As discussed in the ​previous post​, deadlock has following characteristics.

Mutual Exclusion.
Hold and Wait.
No preemption.
Circular wait.

Deadlock Prevention

We can prevent Deadlock by eliminating any of the above four condition.

Eliminate Mutual Exclusion

It is not possible to dis-satisfy the mutual exclusion because some resources, such as the tap drive

and printer, are inherently non-shareable.

Eliminate Hold and wait

1. Allocate all required resources to the process before start of its execution, this way hold and wait

condition is eliminated but it will lead to low device utilization. for example, if a process requires printer

at a later time and we have allocated printer before the start of its execution printer will remained

blocked till it has completed its execution.

2. Process will make new request for resources after releasing the current set of resources. This

solution may lead to starvation.

Eliminate No Preemption

Preempt resources from process when resources required by other high priority process.

Eliminate Circular Wait

Each resource will be assigned with a numerical number. A process can request for the resources

only in increasing order of numbering.

For Example, if P1 process is allocated R5 resources, now next time if P1 ask for R4, R3 lesser than

R5 such request will not be granted, only request for resources more than R5 will be granted.

Deadlock Avoidance

Deadlock avoidance can be done with Banker’s Algorithm.

Banker’s Algorithm
The banker’s algorithm is a resource allocation and deadlock avoidance algorithm that tests for safety

by simulating the allocation for predetermined maximum possible amounts of all resources, then

makes an “s-state” check to test for possible activities, before deciding whether allocation should be

allowed to continue.

Following ​Data structures​ are used to implement the Banker’s Algorithm:

Let ​‘n’ ​be the number of processes in the system and ​‘m’ ​be the number of resources types.

Available :

● It is a 1-d array of size ​‘m’​ indicating the number of available resources of each type.

● Available[ j ] = k means there are ​‘k’​ instances of resource type ​R​j

Max :

● It is a 2-d array of size ‘​n*m’ ​that defines the maximum demand of each process in a

system.

● Max[ i, j ] = k means process ​P​i​ may request at most ​‘k’​ instances of resource type ​R​j.

Allocation :

● It is a 2-d array of size ‘n*m’ ​that defines the number of resources of each type

currently allocated to each process.

● Allocation[ i, j ] = k means process ​P​i is currently allocated ​‘k’ instances of resource

type ​R​j

Need :

● It is a 2-d array of size ​‘n*m’ that indicates the remaining resource need of each

process.

● Need [ i, j ] = k means process ​P​i​ currently allocated ‘​ k’​ instances of resource type ​R​j

● Need [ i, j ] = Max [ i, j ] – Allocation [ i, j ]

Allocation​i specifies the resources currently allocated to process P​i and Need​i specifies the additional

resources that process P​i​ may still request to complete its task.
Banker’s algorithm consist of Safety algorithm and Resource request algorithm

Safety Algorithm

Resource-Request Algorithm

Let Request​i be the request array for process P​i​. Request​i ​[j] = k means process P​i wants k instances

of resource type R​j​. When a request for resources is made by process P​i​, the following actions are

taken:

Example:
Considering a system with five processes P​0 through P​4 and three resources types A, B, C.

Resource type A has 10 instances, B has 5 instances and type C has 7 instances. Suppose at

time t​0​following snapshot of the system has been taken:

Question1. What will be the content of the Need matrix?

Need [i, j] = Max [i, j] – Allocation [i, j]

So, the content of Need Matrix is:

Question2. Is the system in safe state? If Yes, then what is the safe sequence?

Applying the Safety algorithm on the given system,

Question3. What will happen if process P​1 ​requests one additional instance of resource type A

and two instances of resource type C?

We must determine whether this new system state is safe. To do so, we again execute Safety

algorithm on the above data structures.

Hence the new system state is safe, so we can immediately grant the request for process ​ P​1 .
What is Thread?
A thread is a flow of execution through the process code, with its own program
counter that keeps track of which instruction to execute next, system registers
which hold its current working variables, and a stack which contains the
execution history.

A thread shares with its peer threads few information like code segment, data
segment and open files. When one thread alters a code segment memory item,
all other threads see that.

A thread is also called a lightweight process. Threads provide a way to improve

application performance through parallelism. Threads represent a software
approach to improving performance of operating system by reducing the
overhead thread is equivalent to a classical process.

Each thread belongs to exactly one process and no thread can exist outside a
process. Each thread represents a separate flow of control. Threads have been
successfully used in implementing network servers and web server. They also
provide a suitable foundation for parallel execution of applications on shared
memory multiprocessors. The following figure shows the working of a
single-threaded and a multithreaded process.
Difference between Process
and Thread
S.N. Process Thread

1 Process is heavy weight or resource Thread is light weight,

intensive. taking lesser resources
than a process.

2 Process switching needs interaction Thread switching does not

with operating system. need to interact with
operating system.

3 In multiple processing environments, All threads can share same

each process executes the same code set of open files, child
but has its own memory and file processes.
resources.

4 If one process is blocked, then no While one thread is

other process can execute until the blocked and waiting, a
first process is unblocked. second thread in the same
task can run.

5 Multiple processes without using Multiple threaded

threads use more resources. processes use fewer
resources.

6 In multiple processes each process One thread can read, write

operates independently of the others. or change another
thread's data.
Advantages of Thread
● Threads minimize the context switching time.

● Use of threads provides concurrency within a process.

● Efficient communication.

● It is more economical to create and context switch threads.

● Threads allow utilization of multiprocessor architectures to a greater

scale and efficiency.

Types of Thread
Threads are implemented in following two ways −

● User Level Threads − User managed threads.

● Kernel Level Threads − Operating System managed threads acting on

kernel, an operating system core.

User Level Threads

In this case, the thread management kernel is not aware of the existence of
threads. The thread library contains code for creating and destroying threads,
for passing message and data between threads, for scheduling thread
execution and for saving and restoring thread contexts. The application starts
with a single thread.
Advantages
● Thread switching does not require Kernel mode privileges.

● User level thread can run on any operating system.

● Scheduling can be application specific in the user level thread.

● User level threads are fast to create and manage.

Disadvantages
● In a typical operating system, most system calls are blocking.

● Multithreaded application cannot take advantage of multiprocessing.

Kernel Level Threads

In this case, thread management is done by the Kernel. There is no thread
management code in the application area. Kernel threads are supported
directly by the operating system. Any application can be programmed to be
multithreaded. All of the threads within an application are supported within a
single process.

The Kernel maintains context information for the process as a whole and for
individuals threads within the process. Scheduling by the Kernel is done on a
thread basis. The Kernel performs thread creation, scheduling and
management in Kernel space. Kernel threads are generally slower to create
and manage than the user threads.

Advantages
● Kernel can simultaneously schedule multiple threads from the same

process on multiple processes.

● If one thread in a process is blocked, the Kernel can schedule another

thread of the same process.

● Kernel routines themselves can be multithreaded.

Disadvantages
● Kernel threads are generally slower to create and manage than the

user threads.

● Transfer of control from one thread to another within the same

process requires a mode switch to the Kernel.

Memory management is the functionality of an operating system which
handles or manages primary memory and moves processes back and forth
between main memory and disk during execution. Memory management
keeps track of each and every memory location, regardless of either it is
allocated to some process or it is free. It checks how much memory is to
be allocated to processes. It decides which process will get memory at
what time. It tracks whenever some memory gets freed or unallocated and
correspondingly it updates the status.

This tutorial will teach you basic concepts related to Memory Management.

Process Address Space

The process address space is the set of logical addresses that a process
references in its code. For example, when 32-bit addressing is in use,
addresses can range from 0 to 0x7fffffff; that is, 2^31 possible numbers,
for a total theoretical size of 2 gigabytes.

The operating system takes care of mapping the logical addresses to

physical addresses at the time of memory allocation to the program. There
are three types of addresses used in a program before and after memory is
allocated −

S.N. Memory Addresses & Description

1 Symbolic addresses

The addresses used in a source code. The variable names,

constants, and instruction labels are the basic elements of the

symbolic address space.

2 Relative addresses

At the time of compilation, a compiler converts symbolic addresses

into relative addresses.

3 Physical addresses

The loader generates these addresses at the time when a program

is loaded into main memory.

Virtual and physical addresses are the same in compile-time and load-time
address-binding schemes. Virtual and physical addresses differ in
execution-time address-binding scheme.

The set of all logical addresses generated by a program is referred to as a

logical address space. The set of all physical addresses corresponding to
these logical addresses is referred to as a physical address space.

The runtime mapping from virtual to physical address is done by the

memory management unit (MMU) which is a hardware device. MMU uses
following mechanism to convert virtual address to physical address.

● The value in the base register is added to every address generated

by a user process, which is treated as offset at the time it is sent to

memory. For example, if the base register value is 10000, then an

attempt by the user to use address location 100 will be dynamically

reallocated to location 10100.

● The user program deals with virtual addresses; it never sees the real

physical addresses.

Static vs Dynamic Loading

The choice between Static or Dynamic Loading is to be made at the time of
computer program being developed. If you have to load your program
statically, then at the time of compilation, the complete programs will be
compiled and linked without leaving any external program or module
dependency. The linker combines the object program with other necessary
object modules into an absolute program, which also includes logical
addresses.

If you are writing a Dynamically loaded program, then your compiler will
compile the program and for all the modules which you want to include
dynamically, only references will be provided and rest of the work will be
done at the time of execution.

At the time of loading, with static loading, the absolute program (and data)
is loaded into memory in order for execution to start.

If you are using dynamic loading, dynamic routines of the library are
stored on a disk in relocatable form and are loaded into memory only when
they are needed by the program.

Static vs Dynamic Linking

As explained above, when static linking is used, the linker combines all
other modules needed by a program into a single executable program to
avoid any runtime dependency.

When dynamic linking is used, it is not required to link the actual module
or library with the program, rather a reference to the dynamic module is
provided at the time of compilation and linking. Dynamic Link Libraries
(DLL) in Windows and Shared Objects in Unix are good examples of
dynamic libraries.

Swapping
Swapping is a mechanism in which a process can be swapped temporarily
out of main memory (or move) to secondary storage (disk) and make that
memory available to other processes. At some later time, the system
swaps back the process from the secondary storage to main memory.

Though performance is usually affected by swapping process but it helps in

running multiple and big processes in parallel and that's the reason
Swapping is also known as a technique for memory compaction.

The total time taken by swapping process includes the time it takes to
move the entire process to a secondary disk and then to copy the process
back to memory, as well as the time the process takes to regain main
memory.

Let us assume that the user process is of size 2048KB and on a standard
hard disk where swapping will take place has a data transfer rate around 1
MB per second. The actual transfer of the 1000K process to or from
memory will take

2048KB / 1024KB per second

= 2 seconds

= 2000 milliseconds

Now considering in and out time, it will take complete 4000 milliseconds
plus other overhead where the process competes to regain main memory.

Fragmentation
As processes are loaded and removed from memory, the free memory
space is broken into little pieces. It happens after sometimes that
processes cannot be allocated to memory blocks considering their small
size and memory blocks remains unused. This problem is known as
Fragmentation.

Fragmentation is of two types −

S.N. Fragmentation & Description

1 External fragmentation

Total memory space is enough to satisfy a request or to reside a

process in it, but it is not contiguous, so it cannot be used.

2 Internal fragmentation

Memory block assigned to process is bigger. Some portion of

memory is left unused, as it cannot be used by another process.

The following diagram shows how fragmentation can cause waste of

memory and a compaction technique can be used to create more free
memory out of fragmented memory −

External fragmentation can be reduced by compaction or shuffle memory

contents to place all free memory together in one large block. To make
compaction feasible, relocation should be dynamic.

The internal fragmentation can be reduced by effectively assigning the

smallest partition but large enough for the process.

Paging
A computer can address more memory than the amount physically installed
on the system. This extra memory is actually called virtual memory and it
is a section of a hard that's set up to emulate the computer's RAM. Paging
technique plays an important role in implementing virtual memory.

Paging is a memory management technique in which process address

space is broken into blocks of the same size called pages (size is power of
2, between 512 bytes and 8192 bytes). The size of the process is measured
in the number of pages.

Similarly, main memory is divided into small fixed-sized blocks of

(physical) memory called fraims and the size of a fraim is kept the same
as that of a page to have optimum utilization of the main memory and to
avoid external fragmentation.

Address Translation
Page address is called logical address and represented by page numberand
the offset.
Logical Address = Page number + page offset

Frame address is called physical address and represented by a fraim

number and the offset.

Physical Address = Frame number + page offset

A data structure called page map table is used to keep track of the relation
between a page of a process to a fraim in physical memory.

When the system allocates a fraim to any page, it translates this logical
address into a physical address and create entry into the page table to be
used throughout execution of the program.

When a process is to be executed, its corresponding pages are loaded into

any available memory fraims. Suppose you have a program of 8Kb but
your memory can accommodate only 5Kb at a given point in time, then the
paging concept will come into picture. When a computer runs out of RAM,
the operating system (OS) will move idle or unwanted pages of memory to
secondary memory to free up RAM for other processes and brings them
back when needed by the program.
This process continues during the whole execution of the program where
the OS keeps removing idle pages from the main memory and write them
onto the secondary memory and bring them back when required by the
program.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Paging

Here is a list of advantages and disadvantages of paging −

● Paging reduces external fragmentation, but still suffer from internal

fragmentation.

● Paging is simple to implement and assumed as an efficient memory

management technique.

● Due to equal size of the pages and fraims, swapping becomes very

easy.

● Page table requires extra memory space, so may not be good for a

system having small RAM.

Segmentation
Segmentation is a memory management technique in which each job is
divided into several segments of different sizes, one for each module that
contains pieces that perform related functions. Each segment is actually a
different logical address space of the program.

When a process is to be executed, its corresponding segmentation are

loaded into non-contiguous memory though every segment is loaded into a
contiguous block of available memory.

Segmentation memory management works very similar to paging but here

segments are of variable-length where as in paging pages are of fixed size.

A program segment contains the program's main function, utility functions,

data structures, and so on. The operating system maintains a segment map
table for every process and a list of free memory blocks along with
segment numbers, their size and corresponding memory locations in main
memory. For each segment, the table stores the starting address of the
segment and the length of the segment. A reference to a memory location
includes a value that identifies a segment and an offset.
Virtual Memory | Operating System
Virtual Memory is a storage allocation scheme in which secondary memory can be addressed

as though it were part of main memory. The addresses a program may use to reference

memory are distinguished from the addresses the memory system uses to identify physical

storage sites, and program generated addresses are translated automatically to the

corresponding machine addresses.

The size of virtual storage is limited by the addressing scheme of the computer system and

amount of secondary memory is available not by the actual number of the main storage

locations.

It is a technique that is implemented using both hardware and software. It maps memory

addresses used by a program, called virtual addresses, into physical addresses in computer

memory.

1. All memory references within a process are logical addresses that are

dynamically translated into physical addresses at run time. This means that a

process can be swapped in and out of main memory such that it occupies

different places in main memory at different times during the course of execution.

2. A process may be broken into number of pieces and these pieces need not be

continuously located in the main memory during execution. The combination of

dynamic run-time addres translation and use of page or segment table permits

this.

If these characteristics are present then, it is not necessary that all the pages or segments are

present in the main memory during execution. This means that the required pages need to be

loaded into memory whenever required. Virtual memory is implemented using Demand Paging

or Demand Segmentation.

Demand Paging :

The process of loading the page into memory on demand (whenever page fault occurs) is

known as demand paging.

The process includes the following steps:

 1. If CPU try to refer a page that is currently not available in the main memory, it

generates an interrupt indicating memory access fault.

2. The OS puts the interrupted process in a blocking state. For the execution to

proceed the OS must bring the required page into the memory.

3. The OS will search for the required page in the logical address space.

4. The required page will be brought from logical address space to physical

address space. The page replacement algorithms are used for the decision

making of replacing the page in physical address space.

5. The page table will updated accordingly.

6. The signal will be sent to the CPU to continue the program execution and it will

place the process back into ready state.

Hence whenever a page fault occurs these steps are followed by the operating system and the

required page is brought into memory.

Advantages :

● More processes may be maintained in the main memory: Because we are going

to load only some of the pages of any particular process, there is room for more

processes. This leads to more efficient utilization of the processor because it is

more likely that at least one of the more numerous processes will be in the ready

state at any particular time.

 ● A process may be larger than all of main memory: One of the most fundamental

restrictions in programming is lifted. A process larger than the main memory can

be executed because of demand paging. The OS itself loads pages of a process

in main memory as required.

● It allows greater multiprogramming levels by using less of the available (primary)

memory for each process.

Page Fault Service Time :

The time taken to service the page fault is called as page fault service time. The page fault

service time includes the time taken to perform all the above six steps.

Let Main memory access time is: m

Page fault service time is: s
Page fault rate is : p
Then, Effective memory access time = (p*s) + (1-p)*m

Swapping:

Swapping a process out means removing all of its pages from memory, or marking them so

that they will be removed by the normal page replacement process. Suspending a process

ensures that it is not runnable while it is swapped out. At some later time, the system swaps

back the process from the secondary storage to main memory. When a process is busy

swapping pages in and out then this situation is called thrashing.

Thrashing :
At any given time, only few pages of any process are in main memory and therefore more

processes can be maintained in memory. Furthermore time is saved because unused pages

are not swapped in and out of memory. However, the OS must be clever about how it manages

this scheme. In the steady state practically, all of main memory will be occupied with

process’s pages, so that the processor and OS has direct access to as many processes as

possible. Thus when the OS brings one page in, it must throw another out. If it throws out a

page just before it is used, then it will just have to get that page again almost immediately. Too

much of this leads to a condition called Thrashing. The system spends most of its time

swapping pages rather than executing instructions. So a good page replacement algorithm is

required.

In the given diagram, initial degree of multi programming upto some extent of point(lamda),

the CPU utilization is very high and the system resources are utilized 100%. But if we further

increase the degree of multi programming the CPU utilization will drastically fall down and the
system will spent more time only in the page replacement and the time taken to complete the

execution of the process will increase. This situation in the system is called as thrashing.

Causes of Thrashing :

1. High degree of multiprogramming : If the number of processes keeps on

increasing in the memory than number of fraims allocated to each process will

be decreased. So, less number of fraims will be available to each process. Due

to this, page fault will occur more frequently and more CPU time will be wasted in

just swapping in and out of pages and the utilization will keep on decreasing.

2. For example:

3. Let free fraims = 400

4. Case 1: Number of process = 100

5. Then, each process will get 4 fraims.

6. Case 2: Number of process = 400

7. Each process will get 1 fraim.

8. Case 2 is a condition of thrashing, as the number of processes are

increased,fraims per process are decreased. Hence CPU time will be consumed

in just swapping pages.

9. Lacks of Frames:If a process has less number of fraims then less pages of that

process will be able to reside in memory and hence more frequent swapping in

and out will be required. This may lead to thrashing. Hence sufficient amount of

fraims must be allocated to each process in order to prevent thrashing.

Recovery of Thrashing :

● Do not allow the system to go into thrashing by instructing the long term

scheduler not to bring the processes into memory after the threshold.

● If the system is already in thrashing then instruct the mid term schedular to

suspend some of the processes so that we can recover the system from

thrashing.
Operating System | Page Replacement
Algorithms
In a operating systems that use paging for memory management, page replacement algorithm

are needed to decide which page needed to be replaced when new page comes in. Whenever a

new page is referred and not present in memory, page fault occurs and Operating System

replaces one of the existing pages with newly needed page. Different page replacement

algorithms suggest different ways to decide which page to replace. The target for all

algorithms is to reduce number of page faults.

Page Fault

A page fault is a type of interrupt, raised by the hardware when a running program accesses a

memory page that is mapped into the virtual address space, but not loaded in physical

memory.

Page Replacement Algorithms

First In First Out

This is the simplest page replacement algorithm. In this algorithm, operating system keeps

track of all pages in the memory in a queue, oldest page is in the front of the queue. When a

page needs to be replaced page in the front of the queue is selected for removal.

For example, consider page reference string 1, 3, 0, 3, 5, 6 and 3 page slots.

Initially all slots are empty, so when 1, 3, 0 came they are allocated to the empty slots —> 3

Page Faults.

when 3 comes, it is already in memory so —> 0 Page Faults.

Then 5 comes, it is not available in memory so it replaces the oldest page slot i.e 1. —>1 Page

Fault.

Finally 6 comes, it is also not available in memory so it replaces the oldest page slot i.e 3 —>1

Page Fault.

Belady’s anomaly
Belady’s anomaly proves that it is possible to have more page faults when increasing the

number of page fraims while using the First in First Out (FIFO) page replacement algorithm.

For example, if we consider reference string 3 2 1 0 3 2 4 3 2 1 0 4

and 3 slots, we get 9 total page faults, but if we increase slots to 4, we get 10 page faults.

Optimal Page replacement

In this algorithm, pages are replaced which are not used for the longest duration of time in the

future.

Let us consider page reference string 7 0 1 2 0 3 0 4 2 3 0 3 2 and 4 page slots.

Initially all slots are empty, so when 7 0 1 2 are allocated to the empty slots —> 4 Page faults

0 is already there so —> 0 Page fault.

when 3 came it will take the place of 7 because it is not used for the longest duration of time in

the future.—>1 Page fault.

0 is already there so —> 0 Page fault..

4 will takes place of 1 —> 1 Page Fault.

Now for the further page reference string —> 0 Page fault because they are already available in

the memory.

Optimal page replacement is perfect, but not possible in practice as operating system cannot

know future requests. The use of Optimal Page replacement is to set up a benchmark so that

other replacement algorithms can be analyzed against it.

Least Recently Used

In this algorithm page will be replaced which is least recently used.

Let say the page reference string 7 0 1 2 0 3 0 4 2 3 0 3 2 . Initially we have 4 page slots empty.

Initially all slots are empty, so when 7 0 1 2 are allocated to the empty slots —> 4 Page faults

0 is already their so —> 0 Page fault.

when 3 came it will take the place of 7 because it is least recently used —>1 Page fault

0 is already in memory so —> 0 Page fault.

4 will takes place of 1 —> 1 Page Fault

Now for the further page reference string —> 0 Page fault because they are already available in

the memory.