ch3 - basic

Question 1

What is the advantage of processes?

Answer 1

Allows multitasking and efficient use of system resources.

Question 2

What is the disadvantage of processes?

Answer 2

Context switching causes additional performance overhead.

Question 3

What is a process state?

Answer 3

Indicates the execution state of a process: New, Running, Waiting, Ready, or Terminated.

Question 4

What is a Process Control Block (PCB)?

Answer 4

A data structure that contains information about a process, such as state, program counter, CPU registers, memory management info, etc.

Question 5

What is a context switch?

Answer 5

The process where the CPU switches from one process to another by saving and restoring its state.

Question 6

What is the disadvantage of a context switch?

Answer 6

Context switch time is pure overhead and does not perform useful work.

Question 7

What is Interprocess Communication (IPC)?

Answer 7

A mechanism that allows processes to share information and coordinate activities.

Question 8

What are the two main types of IPC?

Answer 8

Shared memory and message passing.

Question 9

What is a problem with shared memory IPC?

Answer 9

Requires synchronization between processes to prevent race conditions.

Question 10

What is message passing?

Answer 10

An IPC mechanism where processes exchange information by sending and receiving messages.

Question 11

What are the advantages of message passing?

Answer 11

Easier synchronization and supports communication across different computers.

Question 12

What are the disadvantages of message passing?

Answer 12

Slower data transfer compared to shared memory.

Question 13

What is the Producer-Consumer problem?

Answer 13

A classic IPC problem where one process produces data while another consumes it.

Question 14

How can the Producer-Consumer problem be solved using shared memory?

Answer 14

By using a counter variable, shared buffers, and synchronization mechanisms.

Question 15

What is a race condition?

Answer 15

A situation where multiple processes access a shared resource concurrently, leading to inconsistent results.

Question 16

How can a race condition be prevented?

Answer 16

Using synchronization mechanisms like locks and atomic operations.

Question 17

What are the disadvantages of multiprocessing?

Answer 17

Complex process management, synchronization requirements, and context switch overhead.

Question 18

What is a socket?

Answer 18

An endpoint for communication between processes over a network or within the same system.

Question 19

How are sockets used in client-server communication?

Answer 19

The server listens for requests, and the client sends data and receives responses.

Question 20

What is Remote Procedure Call (RPC)?

Answer 20

An IPC mechanism that allows calling functions on a remote process as if they were local.

Question 21

What are the advantages of RPC?

Answer 21

Simplifies process communication and abstracts network communication.

Question 22

What are the disadvantages of RPC?

Answer 22

Sensitive to network failures and requires data format compatibility between systems.

Question 23

What is a Named Pipe?

Answer 23

An IPC mechanism that allows bidirectional communication between unrelated processes.

Question 24

What is a Foreground Process in mobile systems?

Answer 24

An active process controlled via the user interface.

Question 25

What is a Background Process in mobile systems?

Answer 25

A process running in the background with limited task execution.

Question 26

What is an Orphan Process?

Answer 26

A process whose parent has terminated, but it continues to run.

Question 27

What is a Zombie Process?

Answer 27

A process that has completed execution but still has an entry in the process table because its parent hasn't called wait().

Question 28

What is the difference between a process and shared memory?

Answer 28

A process is an execution entity, while shared memory is a resource that allows processes to share data.

Question 29

What is Process Control?

Answer 29

It's a type of system call that manages the creation, execution, and termination of processes, ensuring smooth operation and resource allocation.

Question 30

What is File Management?

Answer 30

It's a type of system call that handles operations related to creating, reading, writing, modifying, and deleting files in a storage system.

Question 31

What is Device Management?

Answer 31

It's a type of system call that controls access to hardware devices, allowing processes to read, write, and configure device settings.

Question 32

What is Information Maintenance?

Answer 32

It's a type of system call that provides system-related data such as time, date, and attributes for processes, files, and devices.

Question 33

What is Communications?

Answer 33

It's a type of system call that enables processes to exchange data through message passing or shared memory in a networked or local environment.

Question 34

What is Protection?

Answer 34

It's a type of system call that ensures secure access to system resources by managing user permissions and restricting unauthorized access.