#learninglogs

Hey there- apologies for taking some time, I’m unable to post some learnings due to time constraints. Anyway, here I am again for a new set of entry that I called, the beginning.

Why did I name it that way?

be·gin·ning - ajd, New; or Inexperienced; noun: the point of time or space at which something starts.

Perfect. One of the words that I can use to describe what I saw as I took the advantage to explore more about a certain topic, or agenda, or a subject. 

I’ve been an avid fan of tweaking devices - specifically laptops and/or personal computers. With the help of my father, as a child (well, semi, I was in grade three then), he showed me various way on fixing them from malfunctioning hard drives to removing trojans and malwares.

As I continued my career as a computer scientist (nucks, computer science daw kasi), we’ve been taught concepts about operating systems on one of our subjects in college - up to hands on about removing and installing hardware and software components. I’ve been grateful, but for me, it’s still not enough.

The question still relies on my head - why install this operating system? Why can’t I install this operating system?

What is an operating system? How does it work?

So many questions, so many questions.

As I worked in the industry, my exploration about operating systems have been stalled due to a shift of priorities. My primary focus is on programming - what I have remains the same after five, or six years, regarding operating systems.

As we deploy solutions to our clients on my early years - Me and my team were experiencing compatibility issues upon rollout. Honestly speaking - preparations with regards to operating system compatibility is on the minimum as we assumed that they are all the same regardless of the CPU architecture and the like. I remember that one afernoon that I’m firing a demo for a client - but has been postponed due to architecture incompatibilities: I need to create a new installer that is capable of running on different architectures. Still - I don’t understand the difference between the two, aside from the capability to support larger memory values for x64 systems.

I wonder, I wonder. My question continues.

That’s why - it is of a blessing in disguise that despite that I took the advantage and learn more about operating systems. Of all the aspects I got - specifically on threads, which I use on programming to execute asynchronous tasks; process deadlocks: which explains why my computer hangs frequently because of long waiting times; virtual memory (which I really applied on my local unit - I have two (2) 8gb flash drives assisting my system unit right now using Windows ReadyBoost) - there’s many to mention but then again - 

This is just the beginning.

I would like to personally thank Prof. Mike for all the advice that he shared as we conduct classes - the clarity and guidelines, and the like.

That’s it for now, and I’ll see you guys on my next learning log post. Ciao!

Ha! One of the interesting debates we had on our Advanced OS subject. Of course, I’ve been troubleshooting PCs for a couple of years, and had an avid experience on exterminating trojans that slow down the computers that my client owns. I even endured a heavily-armed malware that I got due to installation of apps that I thought is free back then. (well, I seek for help from my father most of the time to remove them, haha)

I’m able to identify and remove these viruses using an antivirus.

But, as part of discussion, some of my classmates mentioned that the need of an antivirus is minimal to none. But why? 

There is no way around it: viruses do exist, trojans do infiltrate your PC, and most users will act to guard against them. With software, but also with sensible behavior online. Malware relies partly on users doing the hard work for them. Most of the time you know when you are straying into the murkier waters of the internet. Do you ever think that your good behavior is enough to protect you from attacks, and that antivirus software is not necessary?

Quoted from this blog, http://blog.emsisoft.com/2014/12/08/40-reasons-why-you-dont-need-an-antivirus/, I agree.

But then again, my professor said - it depends on how you’re using the workstation:

If the workstation is isolated, does local work and is not connected to the internet, then an antivirus is not needed (unless we have members that gratefully insert their flashdrives that has been infected then that’s another story to tell); and

If the workstation connects to the internet then you definitely need an antivirus.

For my personal opinion, regardless of the state of the workstation, it is important for the units to be protected. Prevention is better than cure, for this case. Remember, it is important for a system to tolerate faults, and having an antivirus is one step away to fulfill that one.

Sad truth is, this discussion is applicable only to Windows users. Linux and Mac OSx users are exempted.

Oh life.

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Since then, I’ve been an avid fan of gaming, not only on console but I play most games on a PC setup. My father is a computer enthusiast (we have the same bachelors also) and since then, he allowed me to play games on his PC when I was a kid.

I remember playing speedster, a racing game that resembles Rush Hour. As a kid, of course, the feeling of intense pressure while navigating through the roads pressured by a limited amount of time is lit! 

There’s another game, called Pandemonium, which is an RPG game that consists of puzzles and big spiders that will block your way thru success.

Nowadays, gaming platform in all aspects and areas has evolved. The immense graphics and overwhelming game experience is of top notch and they still keep on improving. How I wish I can multitask back then, listening to our Good ‘ol WinAmp while playing that Warcraft (first edition) on my rig.

Computers back then cannot multi-task. You have to end the existing process that is running before you switch to another. We can’t blame ourselves because it’s designed that way- Single Thread, Single Process. The operating system that we use back then (It’s MS Dos, or Win 3.1 as well) does not support multi-tasking.

I’m not able to understand the concept back then, but again, I learned something from my Advanced OS class: It’s good that we now enjoy the benefits of parallelism.

In computing, a process is an instance of a computer program that is being executed. It contains the program code and its current activity. Depending on the operating system, a process may be made up of multiple threads of execution that execute instructions concurrently.

This is very beneficial to the likes of us, mainly because we’re bound to do multiple things at the same time: surf the net while listening to Spotify, while editing some research papers and doing powerpoint presentations, and of course chatting with our friends and love ones. (I can play DotA at the same time too). 

My professor once said that you can’t really multi-task or do same things together at the same time. Yes you’re opening sooo many applications but your priority and focus is still on one. Ha, I like that. We can also apply that concept about “pag-ibig”. Hahaha!

So much for that, I now understand the use of that thread snippet code on one of our projects that handles its syncing capabilities.

So, you thought that the equations you solved from your Physics class and those integral set of problems from your Algebra class will be left behind after you graduated from college?

You’re wrong.

Our computers understand mathematical models that have a closed form solution, meaning it uses equations in order to track changes and/or movement inside the operating system- from the data that it serves up to functionalities that it conducts.

Wow. Just Wow.

How?

As I learned - these artifacts are called analytic models. It describes a collection of measured and computed behaviors of different elements over a finite period of time within the computer system- workloads, hardware, software, everything : all are calculated exactly using analytical solutions.

For example, a fault-prepared system uses the fault trees as its failure anticipation mechanism in order to jot down component failures which leads to system takedown - more like a root-cause analysis (fishbone diagram), well in this case, inside an operating system.

Now, if you see the tree above, it anticipates any possible sources on an event. That’s where analytic modeling falls. It is exact, its number is appropriate, and most of the time, problems require mathematical and/or numeric equations for it to be able to be solved.

This post is a continuation of my curiosity and its adventures. You see, I really appreciate things that give me new ideas and/or learnings, such as attending my classes on Graduate School. I always wondered if I’ll be getting something new that will be added to my knowledge gained from the industry. And yes, I’m correct. 

Learning continues and won’t stop on where I am.

Anyway, going back, as you see on my last blog post regarding Windows ReadyBoost, I’ve been bothered by my mind again, delivering too much confusing regarding this defrag thing. 

My childhood has been ruined because before I attended my saturday class, I knew that this Disk Defragmenter is used to clean any dirty / bad sectors on my disk so that it can function a little-less-like-new. But then again, my professor stated that..

“Disk defragmenter compacts your files to free up space.”

Then I was like, wait what? 

But then again, my confusion has been boosted further by the next reporter that discussed about Fragmentation:

Fragmentation is a phenomenon that happens in a computer memory (such as RAM) that causes wastage and inefficiency of use of the remaining space.

Now, as I sit at the front of my computer, I ran my Disk Defragmenter. As it ran, I mentioned something: “Go ahead and compact my files. I’ll be needing that free space that you’ll give me afterwards for my design project”. With this, I asked myself: If de-fragmenting of disks are possible, how ‘bout de-fragmenting of memories as well? (I’m still frustrated with my 4gb setup + ReadyBoost).

Then suddenly, brownout.

Here I am again guys, delivering another personal experience (well, let me re-iterate on that: theoretical-content-that-has-been-applied-personally) with regards to my learning on my Advanced OS subject.

To be honest, I’m a bit frustrated on my current desktop setup: Yes it’s an i5 6th gen, but I only have 4gigs of ram. 4gigs. wow. It’s struggling when I’m doing some business (i.e. Tarpaulin layouts and it’s only 3x4!) or playing some games (like DotA 2 or even Watchdogs)

Now, my classmate and professor discussed something about Paging. To give you guys a bit of idea, here’s what Paging is and what are the benefits of it:

Paging: 

Memory management scheme that eliminates the need for contiguous allocation of physical memory.

This scheme permits the physical address space of a process to be non – contiguous ( sharing a common border )

Now- my curiousity has been triggered: someone on my class asked if it is possible to increase my PC’s RAM virtually using a flash disk?

I knew something about ReadyBoost (since Windows 7 if i’m not mistaken) but not actually tried it.

Upon reaching home, I immediately tried ReadyBoost using my 8g and 4g unused flash drives and voila! A significant increase in performance has been noted from my unit since last saturday.

To learn more about ReadyBoost, click here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff356869.aspx

To learn more about paging and its technical queries, click here: http://www.geeksforgeeks.org/operating-system-paging/

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