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Operating System
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Control Unit (CU) | The manager of the CPU. It fetches instructions from memory, decodes them, and directs the other components on how to execute them. |
| Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU | The part of the CPU that performs all mathematical calculations (addition, subtraction) and logical comparisons (AND, OR, NOT). |
| Registers | Extremely fast, tiny memory locations built directly inside the CPU. They hold the specific data and instructions that the CPU is processing at that exact millisecond. |
| Buses | The electronic pathways or wires that transport data, addresses, and control signals between the CPU, memory, and other hardware components. |
| Booting Process | The sequence of operations that occurs when you turn on a computer, culminating in the Operating System being loaded into main memory (RAM). |
| POST (Power-On Self-Test) | The very first step. The system's firmware (BIOS or UEFI) checks basic hardware (like RAM, keyboard, and storage drives) to ensure everything is functioning correctly before proceeding. |
| Bootloader | A small program executed by the BIOS/UEFI that locates the main Operating System kernel on the hard drive and loads it into the RAM. |
| Warm Boot | is restarting the computer via the operating system without cutting the physical power. |
| Cold Boot | is turning on the computer from a completely powered-off state |
| Computer Protection | The mechanisms built into an Operating System to control access to computer resources, ensuring that files, memory, and hardware are protected from unauthorized use or malicious software. |
| Authentication & Authorization | Identifying the user (e.g., via passwords or biometrics) and enforcing what resources they are permitted to use via Access Control Lists (ACLs) and file permissions. |
| Memory Protection | A critical OS function that prevents one running application from accidentally or maliciously reading or writing to the memory space currently being used by a completely different application. |
| Process States: New | The process is just being created. |
| Process States: Ready | The process is loaded in memory and waiting for its turn to use the CPU. |
| Process States: Running | The process currently has control of the CPU and its instructions are being executed. |
| Process States: Waiting(Blocked) | The process cannot continue until an external event happens (e.g., waiting for the user to type something, or waiting for a file to download). |
| Process States: Terminated | The process has finished executing or was killed by the OS. |
| Process Scheduling | The algorithm the OS uses to decide which "Ready" process gets to use the CPU next. Examples: First-Come, First-Served (FCFS), Shortest Job First (SJF), and Round Robin (giving each process a tiny, equal time slice in a loop). |
| Storage Management (Disk Scheduling) | How the OS manages the queue of requests to read from or write to a hard disk drive. The primary goal is to minimize the mechanical movement of the disk's read/write head (known as "seek time") to make data retrieval as fast as possible. |
| FCFS (First-Come, First-Served) | Processes I/O requests in the exact order they arrive. It is fair but often highly inefficient because the disk head might jump wildly back and forth. |
| SSTF (Shortest Seek Time First) | The disk head services the request that is physically closest to its current position, minimizing movement. |
| SCAN (Elevator Algorithm) | The disk head moves continuously from one end of the disk to the other, servicing any requests it passes along the way, much like an elevator sweeping up and down a building. |
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