A monolithic system is a system that is integrated into one whole, analogous to a
monolith
A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often made of very hard and solid igneous or metamorphic rock. Some monolit ...
. The phrase can have slightly different meanings in the contexts of computer software and hardware.
In application software
In
application software
Application software is any computer program that is intended for end-user use not operating, administering or programming the computer. An application (app, application program, software application) is any program that can be categorized as ...
, software is called "monolithic" if it has a monolithic architecture, in which functionally distinguishable aspects (for example data input and output, data processing, error handling, and the user interface) are all interwoven, rather than containing architecturally separate components.
Software systems like this are examples of
monolithic application
In software engineering, a monolithic application is a single unified software application that is self-contained and independent from other applications, but typically lacks flexibility. There are advantages and disadvantages of building applica ...
s.
In hardware
An electronic
hardware system, such as a
multi-core
A multi-core processor (MCP) is a microprocessor on a single integrated circuit (IC) with two or more separate central processing units (CPUs), called ''cores'' to emphasize their multiplicity (for example, ''dual-core'' or ''quad-core''). Ea ...
processor, is called "monolithic" if its components are integrated together in a single
integrated circuit
An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...
. Note that such a system may consist of architecturally separate componentsin a multi-core system, each core forms a separate componentas long as they are realized on a single
die.
In system software
In
system software
System software is software designed to provide a platform for other software. An example of system software is an operating system (OS) (like macOS, Linux, Android, and Microsoft Windows).
Application software is software that allows users to d ...
, a
monolithic kernel
A monolithic kernel is an operating system software architecture, architecture with the entire operating system running in kernel space. The monolithic model differs from other architectures such as the microkernel in that it alone defines a high ...
is an
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...
(OS) architecture where the entire OS is working in
kernel space
A modern computer operating system usually uses virtual memory to provide separate address spaces or regions of a single address space, called user space and kernel space. This separation primarily provides memory protection and hardware prote ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monolithic System
Software architecture