Operating Systems & Systems Programming Flashcards
6 cards from real B.S.W.E. Bachelor of Software Engineering practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Operating Systems & Systems Programming flashcards as text
What is a process in the context of an operating system?
Answer: An instance of a program in execution with its own memory space
A process is a running instance of a program, with its own dedicated memory address space, program counter, and system resources.
What is the main difference between a process and a thread?
Answer: Threads share the same memory space within a process; processes have separate memory spaces
Threads within the same process share the same address space and resources, while separate processes have independent memory spaces.
Which CPU scheduling algorithm selects the process with the shortest expected execution time next?
Answer: Shortest Job First (SJF)
Shortest Job First (SJF) schedules the process with the smallest estimated execution time next, minimizing average waiting time.
What is a deadlock in operating systems?
Answer: A condition where two or more processes are blocked forever, each waiting for a resource held by the other
Deadlock occurs when a set of processes are permanently blocked because each process holds a resource needed by another process in the set.
In operating systems, what does virtual memory allow?
Answer: Programs to use more memory than physically available by using disk storage as an extension of RAM
Virtual memory extends physical RAM using disk space (swap), allowing processes to use address spaces larger than available physical memory.
Which memory allocation issue occurs when free memory exists but is fragmented into small pieces too small to satisfy a request?
Answer: External fragmentation
External fragmentation occurs when there is enough total free memory but it is split into non-contiguous blocks that cannot satisfy a large allocation request.