1 What are the three main purposes of an operating

system?
Answer:
_ To provide an environment for a computer user to
execute programs on computer hardware in a
convenient and efficient manner.
_ To allocate the separate resources of the computer as
needed to solve the problem
given. The allocation process should be as fair and efficient
as possible.
_ As a control program it serves two major functions: (1)
supervision of the execution of
user programs to prevent errors and improper use of the
computer, and (2) management of the operation and
control of I/O devices.
2 What is the main advantage of multiprogramming?
3 What are two differences between user-level threads and
kernel-level threads? Underwhat
circumstances is one type better than the other?
Answer: (1) User-level threads are unknown by the kernel,
whereas the kernel is aware
of kernel threads. (2) User threads are scheduled by the
thread library and the kernel
schedules kernel threads. (3) Kernel threads need not be
associated with a process whereas every user thread
belongs to a process.
4 What resources are used when a thread is created? How do
they differ from those used when a process is created?
Answer: Because a thread is smaller than a process, thread
creation typically uses fewer
resources than process creation. Creating a process requires
allocating a process control
block (PCB), a rather large data structure. The PCB includes
a memory map, list of open
files, and environment variables. Allocating and managing
the memory map is typically

the most time-consuming activity. Creating either a user or

kernel thread involves allocating
a small data structure to hold a register set, stack, and
priority.
6.1 A CPU scheduling algorithm determines an order for the
execution of its scheduled processes.
Given n processes to be scheduled on one processor, how
many possible different
schedules are there? Give a formula in terms of n.
Answer: n! (n factorial = n* _ n 1* _ n 2* _ ... _ 2*1)
6.3 Consider the following set of processes, with the length
of the CPU-burst time given in
milliseconds:
Process Burst Time Priority
P1
10
3
P2
1
1
P3
2
3
P4
1
4
P5
5
2
The processes are assumed to have arrived in the order P1,
P2, P3, P4, P5, all at time 0.
a. Draw four Gantt charts illustrating the execution of these
processes using FCFS, SJF, a
nonpreemptive priority (a smaller priority number implies
a higher priority), and RR
(quantum = 1) scheduling.
b. What is the turnaround time of each process for each of
the scheduling algorithms in part a?
c. What is the waiting time of each process for each of the
scheduling algorithms in part a?
d. Which of the schedules in part a results in the minimal
average waiting time (over all processes)?
Answer:
a. The four Gantt charts are

b. Turnaround time

P1
P2
P3
P4
P5

FCFS RR SJF Priority

10 19 19 16
11 2 1 1
13 7 4 18
14 4 2 19
19 14 9 6

c. Waiting time (turnaround time minus burst time)

d. Shortest Job First