Process Synchronization and Race Conditions
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Questions and Answers

What is the primary goal of process synchronization in a system?

To avoid race conditions and ensure consistency of shared data

What happens when access to shared data is not controlled?

A race condition exists, possibly resulting in corrupt data values.

What is a critical section in the context of process synchronization?

A section of code that accesses shared data and must be protected from concurrent access.

What is the purpose of hardware support for synchronization?

<p>To provide atomic operations and ensure mutual exclusion in shared data access.</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the consequence of incorrect use of synchronization tools?

<p>Poor system performance, including deadlock.</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the definition of a race condition?

<p>A situation where several processes access and manipulate the same data concurrently and the outcome of the execution depends on the particular order in which the access takes place.</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of the next available pid in the context of race conditions?

<p>It is a kernel variable that represents the next available process identifier and is prone to race conditions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of mutex locks in process synchronization?

<p>To provide mutual exclusion and ensure that only one process can access a critical section at a time.</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of semaphores in process synchronization?

<p>To control access to shared resources and ensure that a certain number of processes can access a resource concurrently.</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of atomic operations in process synchronization?

<p>To ensure that operations on shared data are executed as a single, uninterruptible unit.</p> Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Process Synchronization

  • A system consists of multiple threads running concurrently or in parallel, sharing user data and operating system data structures.
  • Process synchronization involves using tools to control access to shared data and avoid race conditions.

Race Condition

  • A race condition occurs when multiple processes access and manipulate shared data concurrently, and the outcome depends on the order of access.
  • An example of a race condition is the assignment of process identifiers in a system without mutual exclusion.

Critical Section Problem

  • The critical section problem arises when multiple processes need to access shared data, and it must be solved to prevent race conditions.
  • A solution to the critical section problem is necessary to ensure that only one process can access shared data at a time.

Mutex Locks

  • Mutex locks are used to protect critical sections and prevent race conditions.
  • A mutex lock has a Boolean variable indicating whether the lock is available or not.
  • If the lock is available, a call to acquire() succeeds, and the lock is then considered unavailable.
  • A process that attempts to acquire an unavailable lock is blocked until the lock is released.
  • Calls to acquire() or release() must be performed atomically.

Disadvantages of Mutex Locks

  • Implementing mutex locks requires busy waiting, where a process waiting for a lock continuously loops until the lock is released.
  • Spinlocks are used to achieve short-duration locks, and they are preferred in certain circumstances on multicore systems.

Semaphores

  • A semaphore is an integer variable accessed only through two standard atomic operations: signal() and wait().
  • All modifications to the semaphore value must be executed atomically.
  • There is a bound on the number of times other processes are allowed to enter their critical sections after a process has made a request to enter its critical section and before that request is granted.

Hardware Support for Synchronization

  • Three major hardware instructions provide support for solving the critical-section problem.
  • These primitive operations can be used directly as synchronization tools or to form the foundation of more abstract synchronization mechanisms.

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Related Documents

Process Synchronization.pdf

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Learn about process synchronization and its importance in preventing race conditions when multiple threads access shared data concurrently.

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