Session four will explain
why an operating system is necessary in today's computers
and how the process of booting a computer affects
the operating system. You will identify the types
of duties performed by an operating system as well
as recognize the difference between a warm boot and
a cold boot. Be able to tell the difference between
a command-line user interface and a graphical user
interface. You will understand the advantages of a
hierarchical file system over a flat file system as
well as why files from one type of machine won't always
work on another type of machine. You will be able
to discern the difference between cache memory and
virtual memory. Next, recognize how context switching
is used in conjunction with multiprogramming and,
finally, understand how distributed processing makes
networks efficiently use computing power and memory.
The
following are the activities for this Week. It is important
to emphasize that each assignment is designed to be performed
in one day, and maximum two if pertinent.
