Throughout the book, as various topics are discussed, it is necessary to talk about both fundamental, well-established principles as well as more recent innovations in OS design.
The chapter next highlights important characteristics of modern operating systems. This discussion allows us to present some fundamental OS design principles in a simple environment so that the relationship among various OS functions is clear. Then some historically important systems and OS functions are described. We begin with a statement of the objectives and functions of an operating system. Chapter 2 provides an overview to which the reader can return at any point in the book for context. The topic of operating system (OS) design covers a huge territory, and it is easy to get lost in the details and lose the context of a discussion of a particular issue. Chapter 1 provides a brief survey of the processor, memory, and Input/Output (I/O) elements of a computer system. To appreciate the functionality of the operating system and the design issues involved, one must have some appreciation for computer organization and architecture.
An operating system mediates among application programs, utilities, and users, on the one hand, and the computer system hardware on the other.
