Computer Programming Notes

Process Synchronization Process Synchronization Process Synchronization means sharing system resources by processes in a such a way that, Concurrent access to shared data is handled thereby minimizing the chance of inconsistent data. Maintaining data consistency demands mechanisms to ensure synchronized execution of cooperating processes. Process Synchronization was introduced to handle problems that arose while multiple process executions. Some of the problems are discussed below. Critical Section Problem A Critical Section is a code segment that accesses shared variables and has to be executed as an atomic action. It means that in a group of cooperating processes, at a given point of time, only one process must be executing its critical section. If any other process also wants to execute its critical section, it must wait until the first one finishes. Solution to Critical Section Problem A solution to the critical section problem must satisfy the following three...

                Processes and CPU Scheduling Process concept A process is basically a program in execution. The execution of a process must progress in a sequential fashion. A process is defined as an entity which represents the basic unit of work to be implemented in the system. To put it in simple terms, we write our computer programs in a text file and when we execute this program, it becomes a process which performs all the tasks mentioned in the program. When a program is loaded into the memory and it becomes a process, it can be divided into four sections ─ stack, heap, text and data. The following image shows a simplified layout of a process inside main memory − S.N. Component & Description 1 Stack The process Stack contains the temporary data such as method/function parameters, return address and local variables. 2 Heap This is dynamically allocated memory to a process during its run time. 3 Text This in...