What is Visual OSimulator

It is an educational and experimental research framework to aid in teaching operating system concepts using object-oriented techniques and visualization.

Visual OSimulator is a framework developed in C++. It uses object-oriented software design patterns to create redistributable and reusable artifacts for aiding in the understanding of operating system concepts using visualization. Visual OSimulator is primarily used as a supplementary teaching tool and not intended to teach operating system concepts as a stand-alone resource. The system comes with predefined artifacts (e.g. fixed-partition & dynamic-partition memory manager, and first-come first-serve process manager), which the user can experiment with at their leisure. Furthermore, the system can be reconfigured to alter the behavior of existing artifacts (e.g. changing the amount of memory available). This allows the user to create various self-defined experiments to understand how certain constraints affect the system as a whole.

In addition to allowing users to visualize operating system concepts, Visual OSimulator provides users the opportunity to develop their own concepts and visualize their interaction with existing artifacts. This is possible through the extensible framework provided by Visual OSimulator. Users can extend base artifacts to design and implement personal artifacts for the simulator, thus allowing them to better understand their implementation.

Visual OSimulator is a framework, and serves as a place to begin exploration and understanding. It encourages personal creativity, exposes users to object-oriented design techniques, and gives them a chance to watch their ideas come to life!