Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives The student is expected to develop familiarity with functions performed by computer hardware and systems software, understand the software and hardware mechanisms used to carry out such functions, understand the principal difference between several common operating systems and describe the role of the operating system in the management of system resources.
Synopsis Types of operating systems - single user, real-time, batch, multiple access; process and programs - communication between concurrent processes, semaphores, interrupts; memory management - memory allocation, virtual memory; input/output - device handling, buffering, spooling; file storage management - directories, security, file organisation, opening and closing files; resource allocation and scheduling - allocation mechanisms, deadlock, scheduler algorithms, control and accounting; job control languages and utilities, protection, reliability and error detection, performance monitoring. Access to the university's computer systems via modem is compulsory for distance education students.
Assessment Examination: 100%