Operating System: Interprocess Communication

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Questions and Answers

What is the purpose of interprocess communication (IPC) mechanism?

To produce and consume information

To implement a shared-memory system

To allow multiple tasks to run concurrently

To exchange data and information among cooperating processes (correct)

What is the producer-consumer problem an example of?

Shared-memory system

Interprocess communication model

Message passing system

Cooperating process paradigm (correct)

What is the main difference between unbounded-buffer and bounded-buffer systems?

Type of data being exchanged

Type of IPC mechanism used

Buffer size limitation (correct)

Number of processes involved

What is the purpose of the send() and receive() operations in a message system?

To exchange messages between processes Signup and view all the answers

What is required for processes P and Q to communicate in a message system model?

A communication link establishment Signup and view all the answers

What are the two operations provided by an IPC facility?

Send() and receive() Signup and view all the answers

What is an example of a cooperating process paradigm?

Producer-consumer problem Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary role of interprocess communication mechanisms?

To facilitate data exchange and synchronization among cooperating processes Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic of cooperating processes?

They can affect or be affected by the execution of another process. Signup and view all the answers

What is one advantage of process cooperation?

Modularity Signup and view all the answers

What is a result of process termination when a parent process terminates?

All offspring processes are terminated. Signup and view all the answers

Why may a parent process terminate a child process?

The child has exceeded allocated resources. Signup and view all the answers

What is an advantage of process cooperation in terms of computation?

Computation speed-up Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic of independent processes?

They do not share data with any other process. Signup and view all the answers

Why may a parent process terminate itself?

The parent is not required anymore. Signup and view all the answers

What is an advantage of process cooperation in terms of system design?

Modularity Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary reason for creating a new process in response to an interactive logon?

To provide a service to the user without waiting Signup and view all the answers

When a parent process creates children processes, what is the resulting structure of processes?

A tree of processes Signup and view all the answers

What is one way in which parent and children processes can share resources?

By sharing a subset of parent's resources Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary reason for process creation due to modularity or parallelism?

To exploit parallelism Signup and view all the answers

What happens when a child process is created with a duplicate address space of the parent process?

The child process has the same program and data as the parent Signup and view all the answers

What is one way in which parent and children processes can execute?

Parent and children execute concurrently Signup and view all the answers

Why is process creation important in operating systems?

To introduce the notion of a process Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary reason for process creation by the OS on behalf of a user program?

To provide a service to the user without waiting Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Interprocess Communication (IPC)

Cooperating processes require an IPC mechanism to exchange data and information
IPC allows processes to communicate and synchronize their actions

Shared-Memory Systems

Producer-Consumer Problem: producer process produces information that is consumed by a consumer process
Unbounded-buffer: no practical limit on the size of the buffer
Bounded-buffer: assumes a fixed buffer size

Message System

Mechanism for processes to communicate without resorting to shared variables
IPC facility provides two operations: Send(message) and Receive(message)

Process Communication

Processes P and Q need to establish a communication link to exchange messages via send/receive
Methods for logically implementing a link and the send()/receive() operations:
- Direct or indirect communication
- Synchronous or asynchronous communication

Process Termination

Reasons for process termination:
- Invalid instruction
- Privileged instruction
- Data misuse
- Operator or OS intervention
- Parent termination
Process executes last statement and asks the OS to delete it (exit)
Parent may terminate execution of child processes (abort)

Independent and Cooperating Processes

Independent process: cannot affect or be affected by the execution of another process
Cooperating process: can affect or be affected by the execution of another process
Advantages of process cooperation:
- Information sharing
- Computation speed-up
- Modularity: divide the system into a number of functions

Process Description and Control

Process creation:
- In response to a new batch job
- Interactive logon
- Created by OS to provide a service
- Spawned by an existing process
Process control:
- Process creation
- Process termination
- Cooperating processes
- Inter-process communication (IPC)

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Description

Learn about interprocess communication mechanisms that enable cooperating processes to exchange data and synchronize their actions in shared-memory systems.