Operating System Fundamentals: Files and Memory Management

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to file systems and memory management in operating systems.

File

A named, persistent object managed by the OS that serves as a container for data.

File Control Block (FCB)

A data structure stored on secondary storage that holds all properties and location information of a file.

Metadata

Data that provides information about other data, such as file size, ownership, permissions, and access times.

Sequential Access

A method of accessing data where operations are performed in order from the current position in the file.

Random Access

A method of accessing data by specifying an offset, allowing for direct access to any location in the file.

Open-file Properties

Dynamic attributes of an open file, including current position and access mode.

Directory Table

A data structure that maps file names to pointers to their File Control Blocks (FCBs).

Journaling

A method of file system recovery that records planned changes in a log before they are applied.

Demand Paging

A memory management scheme that loads pages into memory only as they are needed.

Bélády's Anomaly

The observation that increasing the number of frames can sometimes result in a higher number of page faults with FIFO page replacement policy.

Thrashing

A condition where excessive page faults occur, causing the OS to spend more time swapping pages than executing processes.