Chapter 3 - Operating Systems
General Outcomes
- Apply understanding of the role and functioning of operating systems to a variety of situations in both CS classroom and daily life, e.g.,
- Describe computer activity necessary to accomplish some particular goal, e.g., read data from a file, stream a video, etc.
- Explain how computers can seem to be doing more than one task at a time.
- Formulate a hypothesis that would explain a computer system's, perhaps unexpected, behavior.
- Apply an understanding of the role and functioning of operating systems to a variety of security and societal issues, e.g.,
- Identify a variety of security threats that operating systems can mitigate and identify how that is done.
- Discuss user responsibilities with respect to protecting the computer systems they use, particularly when other users may be impacted.
- Analyze a given issue to formulate responsibility and liability of various stakeholders, i.e., CPU suppliers, computer/device suppliers, government, and users/consumers.
Reading Guide
In order to guide your reading we have designated each section into one of three categories:
- Essential - You should thoroughly read this material and be prepared to answer questions about this material in both discussions and on assessments.
- Important - You should read this material and be prepared to participate in potential discussions/activities about this material. While this material will not be directly assessed, your understanding of this may help you support/improve your answers to "Essential" material.
- Useful - We feel that this material is worth knowing and may supplement other material in the chapter. However, we do not plan on assessing or discussing (unless you ask questions).
| Section | Essential | Important | Useful |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 History of OS |  |
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| 3.2 Operating System Architecture |  |
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| 3.3 Coordinating the Machine's Activities | |
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| 3.4 Handling Competition Among Processes | |
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| 3.5 Security | |
Video Resources
The following videos are used in individual lessons during the study of this chapter. Their links are consolidated here for easy reference.- Crash Course Computing #18: Operating Systems
- Crash Course Computing #19: Memory and Storage
- Crash Course Computing #20: Files and File Systems
The following were UNI produced supplemental videos.