Computer Science for Geophysicists. Part III: Operating Systems, I/O and the Interrupt

In the last two articles, I have discussed computer systems at the level furthest removed from the average user, that of hardware and the limitations imposed by particular hardware architecture. In this article, I shall move one level closer to the user and consider operating systems, which give a computer its personality, and I/O (input/output), indicating how seismic data moves around a seismic computing system. This will include a discussion of the relative merits of virtual and nonvirtual operating systems, a perennially controversial subject in seismic computing systems. The article introduces all the most important concepts and provides a basis for the more geophysically orientated future articles.