Process Concept

Process Concepts
• The concept of a process.
• The process life cycle.
• Process states and state transitions.
• Process control blocks (PCBs)/process
descriptors.
• How interrupts enable hardware to communicate
with software.
• How processes converse with one another via
inter-process communication (IPC).
 Process
• A process (sometimes called a task, or a job) is,
informally,
– A program in execution, it is an entity that represents a
program in execution
• “Process” is not the same as “program”
– A program is a static entity whereas a process is dynamic
since it represents the execution program.
– The program is not only part of a process; the process also
contains the execution state
• A process is an entity with its own address space. The
address space typically consists of
– text region: code
– data region: variables and dynamically allocated memory
– stack region: instructions and local variables
 Process States
A process state is defined as the status of a process (e.g.,
running, blocked, ready, etc.). A process moves through a
series of discrete process states.
• Running State: the process is executing on a processor
• Ready State: the process could execute on a processor
when one is available
• Blocked State: the process is waiting for some event to
happen before it can proceed.
A Two-State Process Model
 Process Transitions in
the Two-State Process Model
• When the OS creates a new process, it is initially placed in the not-
running state
– It’s waiting for an opportunity to execute
• At the end of each time slice, the CPU scheduler selects a new
process to run
– The previously running process is paused — moved from the running
state into the not-running state (at tail of queue)
– The new process (at head of queue) is dispatched — moved from the
not running state into the running state
• If the running process completes its execution, it exits, and the CPU
scheduler is invoked again
• If it doesn’t complete, but its time is up, it gets moved into the not-
running state anyway, and the CPU scheduler chooses a new
process to execute
 A Five-State Process Model
• The not-running state in the two-state model has
now been split into a ready state and a blocked
state
– Running — currently being executed
– Ready — prepared to execute
– Blocked — waiting for some event to occur (for an I/O
operation to complete, or a resource to become
available, etc.)
– New — just been created
– Exit — just been terminated
State transition diagram
 State Transitions in Five-State
Process Model
• New → Ready
– Admitted to ready queue; can now be considered by CPU
scheduler
• Ready → Running
– CPU scheduler chooses that process to execute next, according
to some scheduling algorithm
• Running → Ready
– Process has used up its current time slice
• Running → Blocked
– Process is waiting for some event to occur (for I/O operation to
complete, etc.)
• Blocked → Ready
– Whatever event the process was waiting on has occurred
 Waiting on Something to Happen…
• Some reasons why a process that might otherwise be
running needs to wait:
– Wait for user to type the next key
– Wait for output to appear on the screen
– Program tried to read a file — wait while
• OS decides which disk blocks to read, and then actually
reads the requested information into memory
– Netscape tries to follow a link (URL) — wait while OS determines
address, requests data, reads packets, displays requested web
page
• OS must distinguish between:
– Processes that are ready to run and are waiting their turn for
another time slice
– Processes that are waiting for something to happen (OS
operation, hardware event, etc.)
 Process Control Block (PCB)
• Process Control Block is a data structure containing
information that characterizes a process also called a
process descriptor. The OS typically performs several
operations when it creates a process, including
assigning a process identification number (PID) to the
process and creating a process control block (PCB),
which stores the program counter (i.e., the pointer to
the address next instruction the process will execute).
• When a process terminates (or is terminated by the
operating system), the operating system removes the
process from the process table and frees all of the
process's resources, including its memory.
 Process Control Block (PCB)
• For every process, the OS maintains a Process Control Block
(PCB), a data structure that represents the process and its
state:
– Process id number (PID)
– User-id of owner
– Memory space (static, dynamic)
– Program Counter, Stack Pointer, general purpose registers
– Process state (running, not-running, etc.)
– CPU scheduling information (e.g., priority)
– List of open files
– I/O states, I/O in progress
– Pointers into CPU scheduler’s state queues (e.g., the waiting
queue)
• A process table is used to allow PCB to be accessed quickly.
 Process Creation
• Processes are created and deleted dynamically
• Process which creates another process is
called a parent process; the created process is
called a child process.
• Resources required when creating process
• CPU time, files, memory, I/O devices etc.
 Process Creation
• Resource sharing
– Parent and children share all resources.
– Children share subset of parent’s resources - prevents many
processes from overloading the system.
– Parent and children share no resources.
• Execution
– Parent and child execute concurrently.
– Parent waits until child has terminated.
• Address Space
– Child process is duplicate of parent process.
– Child process has a program loaded into it.
 Process Termination
• Process executes last statement and asks the
operating system to delete it (exit).
– Output data from child to parent (via wait).
– Process’ resources are deallocated by operating system.
• Parent may terminate execution of child
processes.
– Child has exceeded allocated resources.
– Task assigned to child is no longer required.
– Parent is exiting
» OS does not allow child to continue if parent terminates
» Cascading termination
 Process Creation/Termination
• Reasons for process creation
– User logs on
– User starts a program
– OS creates process to provide a service (e.g., printer daemon to
manage printer)
– Program starts another process (e.g., netscape calls xv to display a
picture)
• Reasons for process termination
– Normal completion
– Arithmetic error, or data misuse (e.g., wrong type)
– Invalid instruction execution
– Insufficient memory available, or memory bounds violation
– Resource protection error
– I/O failure
 Cooperating Processes
• Processes can cooperate with each other to accomplish
a single task.
• Cooperating processes can:
– Improve performance by overlapping activities or
performing work in parallel
– Enable an application to achieve a better program
structure as a set of cooperating processes, where each is
smaller than a single monolithic program
– Easily share information
• Issues:
– How do the processes communicate?
– How do the processes share data?
 Cooperating Processes
• Concurrent Processes can be
– Independent processes
» cannot affect or be affected by the execution of another
process.
– Cooperating processes
» can affect or be affected by the execution of another process.
• Advantages of process cooperation:
» Information sharing
» Computation speedup
» Modularity
» Convenience(e.g. editing, printing, compiling)
• Concurrent execution requires
» process communication and process synchronization
 Process Operations
• Create and destroy a process

• Block and unblock a process

• Dispatch a process
• Wake up a process
• Change priority
• Operations for inter-process communication
• Suspend and resume a process
– A suspended process is indefinitely removed without being destroyed
– Normally for detecting security threats and debugging purposes
 Interrupts
• Interrupt is an event generated by the hardware
that alters the sequence in which a processor
executes instructions
• Synchronous interrupts are caused by an event
related to executing a current process’s
instructions.
• Asynchronous interrupts are caused by an event
unrelated with the execution of a current
process’s instructions
• An interrupt handler is a set of instructions to be
executed in response to each type of interrupt.
 Benefits of Interrupts
• Interrupt provides a low-overhead means of gaining the
attention of the CPU. This eliminates the need for the CPU
to remain busy polling to see if devices require its attention
• When an interrupt occurs
– OS gains control. It saves the state of the interrupted process to
its PCB and puts the process into the ready queue
– OS passes control to the appropriate interrupt handler to handle
the interrupt
– The interrupt handler performs appropriate actions based on
the type of interrupt.
– The state of the interrupted process (or some “next” process) is
restored, and this next process executes
 Interrupt Classes
• Hardware-generated interrupts
– I/O
– Timer
– Interprocessor interrupts
• Software-generated interrupts – Exceptions
– Fault
– Trap
– Abort
Interprocess Communication (IPC)
• Essential for processes that must coordinate
activities to achieve a common goal.
• Implementation
– Signals
– Message passing
 Signals
• Signals are software interrupts that notify a process
that an event has occurred.
– It does not allow processes to exchange data with other
processes.
• A process may catch, ignore or mask a signal.
– Catch – A routine specified by the process is called by the
system when it delivers the signal.
– Ignore – the process relies on the system’s default action
to handle the signal.
• Abort
• Memory dump.
– Mask – used to block a particular signal.
 Assignment 2
• Read and write on message passing in your
note