Assignments & Practice Sheets – Operating Systems

Assignment Set 1: Core Concepts & Theory

Instructions: Attempt all short-answer questions. Write answers in your own words based on course content.

• Explain the difference between multitasking, multiprocessing, and multithreading.

• What are the different types of operating systems? Give one real-world example of each.

• Define a process. How is it different from a program?

• Describe the five states of a process using a state transition diagram.

• What are system calls? List at least 4 categories of system calls with examples.

Assignment Set 2: Analytical Thinking

Instructions: Solve the following problems based on algorithms and memory management concepts.

• Given the arrival and burst times of 4 processes, compute the average turnaround and waiting time using:
  a. FCFS
  b. SJF (Non-preemptive)

• Simulate Round Robin scheduling with a time quantum of 4 units. Use a given set of process burst times.

• A page reference string is given: 7, 0, 1, 2, 0, 3, 0, 4.
  a. Find number of page faults using FIFO with 3 frames.
  b. Repeat for LRU.

• Differentiate between internal and external fragmentation with illustrations.

• Construct a Gantt chart and calculate waiting and turnaround times for the following process set.

Practice Sheet: Memory & File Systems

Objective: Solidify understanding of memory management and file organization.

• Explain the concepts of paging and segmentation. How do they differ in address translation?

• Write short notes on:
  a. TLB (Translation Lookaside Buffer)
  b. Multi-level Paging
  c. Segment Table

• Compare contiguous, linked, and indexed file allocation methods with diagrams.

• Describe any two directory structures and their use cases.

• What is a page fault? When does it occur?

Challenge Questions: Advanced & GATE-Oriented

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

• A system has 4 processes and 3 resources. Use Banker’s Algorithm to determine if the system is in a safe state. Show all steps.

• Given a set of process arrival and burst times, solve using:
  a. Preemptive SJF
  b. Priority Scheduling (both preemptive & non-preemptive)

• Solve page replacement using the Optimal Algorithm.

• Given memory size and logical/physical addresses, compute page number and offset.

• Calculate the number of page faults using Second-Chance algorithm for a given reference string.

Hands-On Task (For Project Module)

• Use any open-source OS (e.g., Ubuntu) and run terminal commands to:

1. Check process IDs
2. Observe context switches using top or htop
3. Create and kill processes using ps, kill, nice, renice

• Research task: Write a 1-page comparison of how Android and iOS handle memory and process management.