iAPX 286 Operating System Writers Guide 1983

GLOSSARYscheduling state: one of several conditions that affect the way a task is treated by the scheduler. Atask may be ready to execute, executing, waiting for some event, etc.secondary storage: a slower, less expensive storage medium than RAM (for example, disk).segment: a variable-length area of contiguous memory addresses not exceeding 64K bytes.segment register: one of four 80286 registers that hold addressing information for the segments thatare currently addressable by a task. The segment registers are CS (code segment), DS (data segment),ES (extra segment), and SS (stack segment).seiector: an item that identifies a descriptor by the location of the descriptor in a descriptor table.semaphore: a synchronization mechanism that communicates the occurrence of an event between two(or more) tasks via a shared memory location.send privilege level (SPL): a software-implemented measure of the right to send or delete a segment.shadow task: a duplicate task used to enable the operating system to perform an outward call.signal: a mechanism for permitting one task to communicate the occurence of an event to another taskthat is not waiting for the event to occur.single step: a mode of execution that permits intervention between each instruction; used primarily asa debugging aid.slot: an entry in a descriptor table.SS (stack segment) register: the segment register that provides address ability to the current stacksegment.stack segment: a segment used by the processor to. hold return addresses, dynamic data, temporarydata, and parameters. For greatest protection, each privilege level of a task may have its own stack.Stack segments usually expand downward.static system: an application in which the mix of tasks does not change over time.subsystem: in PL/M-286, a collection of tightly-coupled, logically-related modules that obey the samemodel of segmentation.swap space: the secondary storage area used to contain segments that have been removed from RAM.swapping: in a virtual-memory system, the process of moving segments between RAM and secondarystorage.swapping manager: a procedure or task responsible for swapping.synchronization: imposition of an order on the occurrence of certain events.system segment: a segment containing a descriptor table or task state.table indicator (TI): a Boolean in a selector that identifies the descriptor table to which the selectorrefers.Glossary-10 121960-001