CSUMB CS Online Learning Journal - Ryan

 This week was the last week did not feature any new materials and we instead resubmitted some previous programming assignments and prepared for the final. Overall, I really enjoyed this class and learned a great deal about operating systems and how they manage programs, memory and data transfer. This class had given me a greater appreciation for the critical function that the operating system provides. One aspect that sticks out in my mind is the concept of the kernel. I know in previously I had heard the term, but never really knew what it was. I now understand what the kernel is and how it works, so now when I see a vague error about the kernel in my operating system I have some idea what it is talking about. Beyond that the other concepts explored in this class have helped me to become a more well rounded computer science major.

 This week I learned about input/output (I/O) devices and their interactions with the operating system (OS). Two types of devices I learned about were block and character devices. Block devices, like hard drives and SSDs, store data in fixed-size blocks and allow random access, making them ideal for large data transfers. Character devices, such as keyboards and mice, handle data streams one character at a time, supporting sequential access. The OS play a crucial role in managing these devices through device drivers that provide a standard interface to interact with the hardware. Performance characteristics of hard drives, such as seek time, rotational latency, and transfer rates, are pivotal in determining overall system efficiency. By calculating transfer rates for different workloads, I learned how disk access patterns significantly impact performance. Additionally, understanding RAID levels provided insights into how redundancy and striping enhance data reliability and performance.