Introduction to operating system design and implementation. The OSP 2 approach (Q2644075)

This book is a manual for a hands-on computer science course on design principles and algorithms of modern operating systems. To convey essential features of today's operating systems, the authors have contrived an operating system framework, called OSP 2, written in Java, in order to assign projects that implement management of important operating system features. These features are device handling, file system management, memory management, resource management, task control, thread handling and interprocess communication. Hence, students may work on up to 7 projects to turn these features into feasible OSP 2 modules, also known as student packages. It goes without saying, that a sound knowledge of object-oriented programming concepts and solid practical Java programming skills are required to meet the needs of each project. There is a single chapter for each feature that details the predefined interfaces and data strucutures of its corresponding Java package. The objective of each project is to provide effective and efficient implementations of these interfaces. OSP 2 is not a real operating system in itself, but an event-based simulator that organizes the execution of student packages in order to show the behaviour of a multiprogramming operating-system environment. In this way, the feasibility of each student package can be validated. Since each package communicates with the OSP 2 event engine via a dedicated interface layer, validation turns out to be more comprehensible than being reduced to mere system crashes with inscrutable warnings or error messages. Besides, the instructor can ascertain the students' grasp of operating system features. OPS 2 courseware along with Internet support for students and instructors is available at \url{http://www.springer.com/978-1-84628-842-5}.