CP2402 - Hardware and Software Fundamentals

[Not offered in 2020]

The subject will provide an introduction to the concepts that underlie operating systems. It will include learning of the nature, characteristics and mechanism of modern operating systems. Major topics covered are: hardware considerations, operating system basics, processes, threads, CPU scheduling, process synchronisation, deadlocks, memory management, virtual memory, file system interface, and I/O systems.

Learning Outcomes

• Be able to describe the basic organization of computer systems and the services an operating system provides to users, processes and other systems;
• Be able to describe the process concept and the various features of processes;
• Understand various memory management techniques;
• Be able to describe how the file system, mass storage, and I/O are handled in a modern computer system;
• Understand the classic internal algorithms and structures of storage management and gain a practical understanding of the algorithms used and their trade-offs.

Subject Assessment

• end of semester exam (45%)
• quizzes or tests (20%)
• assignments (25%)
• practical work activities (10%).

Note: Minor variations might occur due to the continuous Subject quality improvement process, and in case of minor variation(s) in assessment details, the Subject Outline represents the latest official information.