CMSI 387
OPERATING SY S T E M S
Spring 2008
Midterm Review Sheet
The midterm will take place as scheduled, on February 26. It will be open everything: book, notes, hand-
outs, and computer (which means that either we can have the test in the Keck lab, or everyone should have a
laptop that they can use). This guide should help you to prepare for the midterm properly.
Covered Material
The midterm covers the following areas, including
all handouts and sample code that have been dis-
tributed in support of this content:
•SGG Chapters 1–2, 10–11
•Working knowledge of how to configure and
build a Linux kernel
•Working knowledge of an assortment of promi-
nent operating systems (i.e., the ability to access
the process, memory, I/O, and storage functions
of these platforms)
Sample Tasks and Questions
The following represent the types of questions or
tasks that you may be asked to accomplish:
•Perform some analysis, critique, or evaluation of
an operating system concept (design choices, op-
erating system roles [process management,
memory management, file systems, I/O], the
boot process) or structure (kernel, system calls,
privileged vs. user mode, device controllers and
drivers, file system drivers)
•Describe a real-world computer issue or activity
in more precise, operating system-specific terms
(e.g., computer won’t boot, computer is slow,
“blue screen of death,” device doesn’t work with
a computer, laptop power management, dual-
boot computers, etc.)
•“Read” a given snapshot of processes (e.g., what
is a process’s ID, what is a process’s “lineage,”
which process was the first one created upon
boot-up, which process is using the most CPU
time, how much memory is a process using, etc.)
•Answer questions pertaining to storage devices
and file systems, including but not limited to
common volume structures, mounting/
unmounting, file system drivers, file allocation
schemes, directory structures, shortcuts/aliases/
links, and consistency semantics
•Navigate or interpret specific instances of a
given file system (ext2 in detail, and possibly
FAT, UFS, or some other hypothetical imple-
mentation that will be described in general)