Computer Immunology

EBook Description: We dance for our computers. Every error, every problem that has to be diagnosed schedules us to do work on the system's behalf. Whether the root cause of the errors is faulty programming or simply a lack of foresight, human intervention is required in computing systems with a regularity which borders on the embarrassing. Operating system design is about the sharing of resources amongst a set of tasks; additional tasks need to be devoted to protecting and maintaining a computer with an immune system so that human intervention can be minimized.

Download Free

Using the Strategy Design Pattern to Compose Reliable Distributed Protocols

Reliable distributed systems involve many complex protocols. In this context, protocol composition is a central concept, because it allows to reuse robust protocol implementations. In this paper, we describe how the Strategy pattern has been recursively used to support protocol composition in the BAST framework. We also discuss design alternatives that have been applied in other existing frameworks.

A Tcl Implementation in Java

Java Command Language, is a version of the Tcl [1] scripting language for the Java [2] environment. Jacl is designed to be a universal scripting language for Java: the Jacl interpreter is written completely in Java and can run on any Java Virtual Machine. Jacl can be used to create Web content or to control Java applications

Portable Tools for Performance Analysis

lmbench is a micro-benchmark suite designed to focus attention on the basic building blocks of many common system applications, such as databases, simulations, software development, and networking.

A Frequently Redundant Array of Independent Disks

Disk arrays are commonly designed to ensure that stored data will always be able to withstand a disk failure, but meeting this goal comes at a significant cost in performance. We show that this is unnecessary. By trading away a fraction of the enormous reliability provided by disk arrays, it is possible to achieve performance that is almost as good as a non-parity-protected set of disks.

A Comparison of FFS Disk Allocation Policies

The 4.4BSD file system includes a new algorithm for allocating disk blocks to files. The goal of this algorithm is to improve file clustering, increasing the amount of sequential I/O when reading or writing files, thereby improving file system performance. In this paper we study the effectiveness of this algorithm at reducing file system fragmentation

Lessons from the Neighborhood Viewer: Building Innovative Collaborative Applications in Tcl and Tk

This paper discusses the development in Tk of a collaborative browser for scientific image databases. The browser, known as the ``neighborhood viewer,'' allows groups of neuroscientists to explore systematically a large collection of brain images.

Automatic Compiler-Inserted I/O Prefetching for Out-Of-Core Applications

In this paper, we propose and evaluate a fully-automatic technique which liberates the programmer from this task, provides high performance, and requires only minimal changes to current operating systems.

Safe Kernel Extensions Without Run-Time Checking

This paper describes a mechanism by which an operating system kernel can determine with certainty that it is safe to execute a binary supplied by an untrusted source.

Autoconf Tutorial

Introduction to programming using GNU's autoconf system. Autoconf simplifies the porting process and provides a consistent build interface for system administrators.

• Free IAS eBooks
• Free GRE eBooks
• Free MBA eBooks
• Free GATE eBooks