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What Is System Call in Operating System

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5 views

What Is System Call in Operating System

Uploaded by

mrv135791
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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What is System Call in Operating System?

ANSWER
A system call is a mechanism that provides the interface between a process
and the operating system. It is a programmatic method in which a computer
program requests a service from the kernel of the OS.

Example of System Call


For example if we need to write a program code to read data from one file,
copy that data into another file. The first information that the program requires
is the name of the two files, the input and output files.

In an interactive system, this type of program execution requires some system


calls by OS.

 First call is to write a prompting message on the screen


 Second, to read from the keyboard, the characters which define the two
files.

Why do you need System Calls in OS?

ANSWER
Following are situations which need system calls in OS:

 Reading and writing from files demand system calls.


 If a file system wants to create or delete files, system calls are required.
 System calls are used for the creation and management of new
processes.
 Network connections need system calls for sending and receiving
packets.
 Access to hardware devices like scanner, printer, need a system call.

Types of System calls


Here are the five types of System Calls in OS:

 Process Control
 File Management
 Device Management
 Information Maintenance
 Communications

Process Control
This system calls perform the task of process creation, process termination,
etc.

Functions:

 End and Abort


 Load and Execute
 Create Process and Terminate Process

File Management
File management system calls handle file manipulation jobs like creating a file,
reading, and writing, etc.

Functions:

 Create a file
 Delete file
 Open and close file

Device Management
Device management does the job of device manipulation like reading from
device buffers, writing into device buffers, etc.

Functions:
 Request and release device
 Logically attach/ detach devices
 Get and Set device attributes

Information Maintenance
It handles information and its transfer between the OS and the user program.

Functions:

 Get or set time and date


 Get process and device attributes

Communication:
These types of system calls are specially used for interprocess
communications.

Functions:

 Create, delete communications connections


 Send, receive message

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