Operating Systems Course: Reflection Essay

There are a lot of new concepts about Telecommunications and Networking that I’ve learned in depth in this course. It is one of the very interesting courses that I have done so far in IT. I feel it is worth doing this course online as there is a chance to learn so many concepts through our assignments. Wire shark labs were very interesting and we have gained practical knowledge on how networking works in real scenarios.

There are so many topics that I felt interesting throughout the course, but there is this topic ‘Modes of Network Operation’ which was the discussion topic in the 6^th week that left an ‘aha’ moment.

In Infrastructure mode of Network operation, communications occur between a set of Wireless Adapter equipped computers and also between a wired networks by going through a Wireless Access Point (AP). Infrastructurerefers to switches, routers, firewalls, and access points (Aps). Access Points are responsible for handling traffic between wireless networks and also wired networks. There is no Peer to Peer communication in this mode. A wireless network in infrastructure mode which is also connected to wired network is called as BSS (Basic service set).A set of two or more service sets is called Extended Service Set (ESS).

The BSSID is a 48-bit number of the same format as a MAC address. This field uniquely identifies each BSS. The value of this field is the MAC address of the AP.

Advantages of Infrastructure mode:

1. Wide areas are covered by utilizing the high power of an access point in Infrastructure mode which is the advantage.
2. The learning curve will be less for knowing wireless strengths and weaknesses with Infrastructure Mode.
3. Number of clients can be supported in this mode of operation as additional access points can be added to WLAN to increase the reach of the infrastructure and support any number of wireless clients.
4. Infrastructure mode networks offer the advantage of scalability, centralized security management and improved reach.

Disadvantages:

The disadvantage associated with infrastructure wireless network is additional cost to purchase AP hardware.

ADHOC Mode: In this mode, each station is a peer to the other stations and communicates directly with other stations within the network. No Access points are required.

Advantages:

Because Ad Hoc Mode does not require an access point, it’s easier to set up, especially in a small or temporary network.

Disadvantages:

• In Ad Hoc Mode connections are limited, for example between two laptops, to the power available in the laptops.
• Because the network layout (thenetwork topology) in Ad Hoc Mode changes regularly, system resources are taken just to maintain connectivity.
• In an Ad Hoc network with many computers, the amount of interference for all computers will go up, since each is trying to use the same frequency channel.
• In Ad Hoc Mode, chains of computers will connect to pass your data, if your computer is not directly in range. On the other hand, you do not have control over the path your data takes. The automatic configuration routines may send your data through several computers, causing significant network delays.

Conclusion

Based on the above various mode of operation both offer advantages and as well as disadvantages. Based on the necessity one many opt for Ad hoc mode where set up is easy and no access points are required whereas Infrastructure mode is suited well for wireless networks as it supports any number of clients and offers advantages such as scalability, security and improved approach.

There are a lot of concepts of Operating Systems that are learnt in depth from the course Operating Systems, it being one of the most important courses to be known to end up in software industry. However, I feel, and have always felt that it’s important to understand where we came from and how we landed up here, to be able to understand where we are going. The technology on which the operating systems run on and the mechanics of OS have progressed more than that could have been imagined in the last 30 years. By understanding how that progress was made, we can apply it and make equal progress in the future too.

There are so many interesting topics in the discussions and journal entries throughout the course, but the first discussion on “Microsoft Windows 8: One Size Fits All?” remained as my favorite topic. It being the first discussion topic, also made me feel how interesting the entire Operating systems course would be. This topic grabbed my attention all of a sudden as I have been using Operating systems mostly Microsoft Windows from so many years without even knowing what exactly is happening behind it. The pros and cons of Windows 8 are summed from the “One size fits all” discussion.

This made me think of the practical application of an OS by comparing with the features of other OS. I felt it’s not possible to develop single OS which can be efficient on tablets and PC’s and that was the first time I had to disagree/not satisfied with Microsoft’s invention. Microsoft has been ruling the OS platforms. Windows 8 has drastic changes in platform and user interface of the operating systems. It had a smartphone before the Apple iPhone revolution came along, and it was pushing tablet PCs before the Apple iPad made it cool. But, as long as Microsoft’s history with mobile devices is, so is its stubborn desire to make everything about its Windows OS.

Nowadays we cannot even imagine the world without computer as they are a part of everyday life now. But many of us do not care about what is actually happening when we use a system. Though I had little knowledge about operating systems earlier, now even though I don’t know everything I’m sure that I have learnt a lot about the functioning of an operating system, many types of management techniques in various operating systems, scheduling algorithms, and Protection and Security mechanisms in OS.

An Operating system is a program that manages computers hardware and knowledge about operating system is necessary to start a career in software industry. Operating system provides a basis for application programs and acts as an intermediary between users and computer hardware and optimizes the utilization of hardware. It must exist in order for other programs to run.

I would definitely continue my career as a software developer after completion of Masters in IT as I have been a software developer earlier. As a developer I would be developing software applications and having in depth knowledge of Operating systems is always necessary. An Operating system provides a software platform on which other application programs can run. So in some scenario’s like asynchronous function calls in the program written, I would definitely understand the execution of program much better having knowledge of how operating system works.

I am pretty sure next time when I buy a laptop or an electronic device, I would not be lost with technical specifications. Indeed I would be more interesting to know the features and discuss the specifications confidently.

Finally, I would say learning about the operating system will help every IT professional in their career.