Structures for a file''s data, Operating System

Assignment Help:

Q. Likewise some systems support many types of structures for a file's data while others simply support a stream of bytes. What are the merits in addition to demerits?

Answer: A merit of having the system support different file structures is that the support comes from the system individual applications aren't required to provide the support. In addition if the system offers the support for different file structures it can implement the support presumably more resourcefully than an application.

The demerits of having the system provide support for defined file types is that it raises the size of the system. In addition applications that may need different file types other than what is provided by the system may not be able to run on such systems.

A substitute strategy is for the operating system to define no support for file structures as well as instead treat all files as a series of bytes. This is the method taken by UNIX systems. The advantage of this method is that it simplifies the operating system support for file systems as the system no longer has to provide the structure for different file types.

In addition it allows applications to define file structures thus alleviating the situation where a system mayn't provide a file definition required for a specific application.


Related Discussions:- Structures for a file''s data

Explain the tlsgetvalue (tlsindex) function, Explain the TlsGetValue (TLSin...

Explain the TlsGetValue (TLSindex) Function Executing this function will return the thread local storage data associated with this thread. The pointer returned will be the one

Explain the facilities of a debug monitor, Facilities of a Debug Monitor ...

Facilities of a Debug Monitor Facilities of a debug monitor are like this: Setting breakpoints in the program Initiating a debug conversation while control reaches

What are the three main purposes of an operating system, What are the three...

What are the three main purposes of an operating system? _ To give an environment for a computer user to implement programs on computer hardware in a convenient and efficient m

Networking and distributed systems, Networks and operating systems have a l...

Networks and operating systems have a lot of overlap. In this course, however,we are not going to discuss networking in detail, but rather focus on the networking abstractions prov

Can you give me assistance on my operating system assignment, Can you give ...

Can you give me assistance on my operating system assignment?

Explain second-chance algorithm, Second-Chance algorithm When a page ha...

Second-Chance algorithm When a page has been selected, we inspect its reference bit. If the value is 0, we proceed to replace this page. If the reference bit is set to 1, thoug

Define unix device driver, Define UNIX device driver The UNIX device dr...

Define UNIX device driver The UNIX device driver is structured into two halves called top half and bottom half

Shared stack is used for parameter passing, Q. What protection problems may...

Q. What protection problems may occur if a shared stack is used for parameter passing? Answer: The contents of the stack could be conciliation by other process(es) sharing th

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd