How to study Operating Systems — Semester III, Pokhara University BECE
What it covers
How operating systems work: processes and threads, CPU scheduling, synchronization and deadlocks, memory management and virtual memory, file systems, I/O, and security.
Topics worth extra time
- Processes and threads, and CPU scheduling algorithms
- Process synchronisation: critical section, semaphores and classic problems
- Deadlocks: conditions, prevention, avoidance (Banker’s algorithm) and detection
- Memory management: paging, segmentation and page replacement algorithms
- File systems and disk scheduling
How to study it
Scheduling, page replacement and disk scheduling are numerical: solve each algorithm on several inputs and draw the Gantt chart or frame table every time. For synchronisation, understand why each solution works and what goes wrong without it. Using Linux commands for processes and files makes the concepts concrete.
In the exam
Draw Gantt charts and tables neatly and calculate averages (waiting time, turnaround time, page faults) clearly. For theory, compare algorithms with their advantages and disadvantages in a table.