CS33211 "Operating Systems" 

            HOMEWORK #1  
	
        Due in class on 2/14/2007

You are expected to provide clear, focused and convincing answers to the
questions. One line answers are probably too short and multiple page
answers are unnecessary. No additional credit will be given for
lengthy answers and too long answers may be penalized. In your answers
you should convince me that you understand the material, therefore,
simply copying from the textbook or class handouts would not suffice.
Use your own words.

The numbers in parenthesis refer to exercises in "Operating System
Concepts" (OSC) textbook. Each question is worth 3 points.

1. What is called a kernel? How and for what is it used? 
   Explain the difference between switching from kernel mode
   to user mode and context switch.

	A user presses a button in an internet browser window while
 	the CPU is executing a compiler process. Provide a 
	sequence of events (context switches, mode switches
	system calls, etc.) that follows.

2. (OSC 2.12) What is the main advantage of the microkernel ...

3. (OSC 2.17) The experimental Synthesis ...

4. What are the differences between user-level threads and kernel-level
   threads? Under what circumstances is one type better than the other?

5. (OSC 5.4) Consider the following set of processes ... 

6. (OSC 5.6) Consider a variant of the RR ...

7. (OSC 5.9) Consider preemptive priority scheduling algorithm ...

8. (OSC 5.13) The traditional UNIX scheduler ...