Section 1
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Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)
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Last updated
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Date created
Mar 1, 2020
Cards (91)
Section 1
(50 cards)
Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)
A module in the operating system that hides the specifics of different hardware implementations. Above this layer, the operating system is portable
efficiency
The lack of overhead in implementing an abstraction.
stack pointer
A value denoting the most recently allocated address in a stack that shows where registers should be spilled or where old register values can be found.
Interrupt handler
A kernel procedure invoked when an interrupt occurs
privileged instruction
Instruction available in kernel mode but not in user mode.
utilization
The fraction of time a resource is busy.
Program Counter (PC)
The register that contains the address of the next instruction to be executed
nested interrupts
occur when an interrupt handler interrupts itself
Batch Operating System
An early type of operating system that efficiently ran a queue of tasks. While one program was running, another was being loaded into memory.
Availability
The percentage of time that a system is usable.
Monolithic kernel
An operating system design where most of the operating system functionality is linked together inside the kernel.
Virtual Machine
An execution context provided by an operating system that mimics a physical machine, e.g., to run an operating system as an application on top of another operating system.
processor status register
A hardware register containing flags that control the operating of the processor, including the privilege level.
kernel execution mode
The processor executes in an unrestricted mode that gives the operating system full control over the hardware.
interrupt masking
Where the hardware provides a privileged instruction to temporarily defer delivery of an interrupt until it is sage to do so.
Host Operating System
An operating system that provides the abstraction of a virtual machine, to run another operating system as an application.
return from interrupt instruction
The return value is the location of the interrupting program.
Privacy
Data stored on a computer is only accessible to authorized users.
Security
A computer's operation cannot be compromised by a malicious attacker.
interrupt vector table
A table of pointers in the operating system kernel, indexed by the type of interrupt, with each entry pointing to the first instruction of a handler procedure for that interrupt.
Application Programming Interface (API)
The system call interface provided by an operating system to applications.
predictability
Whether a system's response time is consistent over time.
hardware timer
A hardware device that can cause a processor interrupt after some delay, either in time or in instructions executed.
Virtualization
Provide an application with the illusion of resources that are not physically present.
Response time
The time for a task to complete, from when it starts until it is done.
polling
An alternative to hardware interrupts, where the processor waits for an asynchronous event to occur, by looping, or busy-waiting, until the event occurs.
Open System
A system whose source code is available to the public for modification and reuse, or a system whose interfaces are defined by a public standards process.
system call interrupt
A signal to hardware that changes the processor mode from user to kernel and starts executing in the kernel at a pre-defiled handler.
Time-Sharing Operating System
An operating system designed to support interactive use of the computer.
Reliability
A property of a system that does exactly what it is designed to do.
Protection
The isolation of potentially misbehaving applications and users so that they do not corrupt other applications or the operating system itself.
Operating system kernel
The kernel is the lowest level of software running on the system, with full access to all of the capabilities of the hardware.
throughput
The rate at which a group of tasks are completed.
BIOS ROM
A type of computer chip where instructions for starting up the computer are stored.
microkernel
An operating system design where the kernel itself is kept small, and instead most of the functionality of a traditional operating system kernel is put into a set of user-level processes, or servers, accessed from user applications via interprocess communication.
bootstrap loader (bootloader)
Program stored at a fixed position on disk (or flash RAM) to load the operating system into memory and start executing it.
dynamically loadable device driver
Software to manage a specific device, interface, or chipset, added to the operating system kernel after the kernel starts running
Dual Mode Execution
Hardware processor that has (at least) two privilege levels: one for executing the kernel with complete access to the capabilities of the hardware and a second for executing user code with restricted rights.
Operating System
A layer of software that manages a computer's resources for its users and their applications.
user stack
The stack for managing processes in user mode.
Guest Operating System
An operating system running in a virtual machine.
Proprietary System
A system that is under the control of a single company; it can be changed at any time by its provider to meet the needs of its customers.
Principle of Least Privilege
System security and reliability are enhanced if each part of the system has exactly the privileges it needs to do its job and no more.
portability
The ability of software to work across multiple hardware platforms.
interrupt stack
A region for holding the stack of the kernel's interrupt handler. When an interrupt, processor exception, or system call trap causes a context switch into the kernel, the hardware changes the stack pointer to point to the base of the kernel's interrupt stack.
interrupt
An asynchronous signal to the processor that some external event has occurred that may require its attention.
exception
A hardware event caused by user program behavior that causes a transfer of control to a kernel handler.
User execution mode
The processor operates in a restricted mode that limits the capabilities of the executing process.
Resource
A physical or virtual entity that can be assigned to a user or application.
Overhead
The added resource cost of implementing an abstraction versus using the underlying hardware resources directly.
Section 2
(41 cards)