CSC 539: Operating Systems Structure and Design
Fall 2002
HW1: OS and Computer Structure
- Complete the following exercises from the text: 1.4, 1.6, 2.9, 2.12
The following questions concern the simple batch/multiprogramming
simulator discussed in class.
The simulator reads in a collection of jobs from a file, with each job
specified by an ID number and job length. It stores the jobs in a queue
and processes them in order. By changing constants, the delay time
between jobs and the time slice alotted to each job in turn can be
adjusted.
Source code for the simulator can be viewed and downloaded by clicking on
the following links and cut-and-pasting into the Visual C++ editor:
multi.cpp,
JobQueue.h,
Queue.h,
jobs.dat. (If you would like a quick review
of useful C++ classes and libraries, some of which may be new to you, see
CSC539 REVIEW SHEET: C++ Classes & Libraries.)
- Build a C++ project and execute the simulator on the provided
job data file (jobs.dat). To simulate a batch environment, set
the TIME_SLICE and LOAD_DELAY to be high (1000 and 5, respectively).
Likewise, to simulate a simple multiprogramming environment, set these
constants to lower values (5 and 1, respectively). Print the log of each
execution and hand them in with the assignment.
Note: it is possible to redirect the output of a Visual C++
program to a file instead of to the screen. To do this, select "Settings"
under the "Project" menu, then click on the "Debug" tag. In the box
labeled "Program arguments:", type a greater-than symbol followed by a
file name. For example, typing "> batch.out" would cause
program output to be written to a file named batch.out.
- Create a data file with the following jobs, and provide printouts of
execution logs using the batch (TIME_SLICE = 1000, LOAD_DELAY = 5) and
multiprogramming (TIME_SLICE=5, LOAD_DELAY=1) settings from above.
JOB # LENGTH
---------------
1 20
2 4
3 8
4 30
5 2
- Suppose that our only concern was minimizing the time it takes to
complete all of the jobs. To minimize the total time, which makes
more sense: increasing or decreasing the TIME_SLICE? Justify your answer,
with references to specific data where applicable.
- While the total time to complete all jobs is relevant in a batch
environment, a more meaningful measure in a multiprogramming environment
is the average time to completion for all the jobs. Modify the
multi.cpp program so that it computes the average time to
completion and displays this value at the end. For example, if JOB 1
finished at time 6, JOB 2 finished at time 14, and JOB 3 finished at time
19, then the average time to completion would be (6 + 14 + 19)/3 = 13.
For each of the job data files above (the provided sample file and the
new job data from Exercise 3), report the average time to completion for
jobs using the batch and multiprogramming settings.
- Which type of environment, batch or multiprogramming, tends to do
better with respect to average completion time? Does that environment
always do better, or can you cite specific examples where it is
actually worse? Justify your answer, with references to specific data
where applicable.
- Does the order of the jobs affect the average completion time? That
is, is it possible to shuffle the order of a collection of jobs and obtain
significantly different results? If so, which environment (batch vs.
multiprogramming) is more susceptible to order variation? Justify your
answer, with references to specific data where applicable.