Operating System Articles

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What is a process hierarchy?

Bhanu Priya
Bhanu Priya
Updated on 17-Mar-2026 8K+ Views

A process hierarchy is a tree-like structure that represents the parent-child relationships between processes in an operating system. When a process creates new processes during execution, it forms a hierarchical organization where the creating process becomes the parent process and the newly created processes become child processes. How Process Hierarchy Works In modern operating systems, processes can dynamically create and destroy other processes. Each child process inherits certain properties from its parent and maintains a relationship that the operating system tracks for resource management and control purposes. Process Hierarchy Structure ...

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How IPC between a user application and an OS Subsystem in Windows?

Bhanu Priya
Bhanu Priya
Updated on 17-Mar-2026 287 Views

Inter-Process Communication (IPC) in Windows enables communication between a user application and operating system subsystems. Windows provides several mechanisms for processes to exchange data, synchronize operations, and coordinate tasks across different privilege levels. User applications run in user mode with restricted access to system resources, while OS subsystems operate in kernel mode with full hardware access. IPC bridges this gap, allowing secure communication between these different execution contexts. Windows IPC Architecture Windows IPC Architecture User Mode ...

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What are the two methods to implement inter process communication?

Bhanu Priya
Bhanu Priya
Updated on 17-Mar-2026 1K+ Views

There are two primary methods to implement Inter Process Communication (IPC) − Shared Memory Message Passing Shared Memory Shared memory is a region of memory that can be accessed by multiple processes simultaneously. It is primarily used for communication between processes running on the same machine, whether in single-processor or multiprocessor systems. The processes share a common address space, allowing direct access to the same memory locations. Shared Memory IPC Process A Process B Shared ...

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What is process creation in Operating Systems?

Bhanu Priya
Bhanu Priya
Updated on 17-Mar-2026 15K+ Views

Process creation is a fundamental mechanism in operating systems where an existing process creates one or more new processes during execution. The creating process is called the parent process, and the newly created processes are called child processes. Each process in the system can create multiple child processes, forming a hierarchical tree structure. Every process is identified by a unique process identifier (PID), which is typically an integer number assigned by the operating system. How Process Creation Works Process Tree Structure Parent ...

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What are the roles of the user interface and kernel of an operating system?

Bhanu Priya
Bhanu Priya
Updated on 17-Mar-2026 2K+ Views

An operating system consists of two main components that work together to provide a complete computing environment: the user interface and the kernel. These components have distinct roles and operate in different execution modes to ensure system security and efficient resource management. Execution Modes Programs execute in two distinct modes to maintain system security and stability: User mode − Applications run with restricted privileges and cannot directly access hardware resources. The mode bit is set to 1. Kernel mode − The OS runs with full privileges and can access all hardware resources like RAM, storage devices, ...

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What is shared memory in the OS?

Bhanu Priya
Bhanu Priya
Updated on 17-Mar-2026 20K+ Views

Shared memory is a method of inter-process communication (IPC) where multiple processes can access the same region of physical memory. It allows cooperating processes to exchange data by reading and writing to a common memory segment, making it one of the fastest IPC mechanisms available. In shared memory systems, processes communicate by establishing a shared memory region in their address space. When one process wants to share data, it creates this shared region and stores the information there. Other processes can then attach to this shared memory segment to read or modify the data. How Shared Memory Works ...

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What is the shared memory concept by using producer consumer problem?

Bhanu Priya
Bhanu Priya
Updated on 17-Mar-2026 4K+ Views

Inter-process communication requires establishing a shared memory region. A shared memory region exists in the address space of the process that creates the shared memory segment. Other processes communicate by attaching this shared memory segment to their own address space. The operating system normally prevents one process from accessing another process's memory. However, shared memory allows two or more processes to exchange information by reading and writing data in common memory areas. The processes are responsible for ensuring they do not write to the same location simultaneously. Producer-Consumer Problem The producer-consumer problem is a classic example demonstrating ...

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What is message passing technique in OS?

Bhanu Priya
Bhanu Priya
Updated on 17-Mar-2026 24K+ Views

Message Passing is an inter-process communication (IPC) mechanism that allows processes to communicate and synchronize their actions without sharing the same address space. Unlike shared memory, processes exchange data by sending and receiving messages through the operating system kernel. For example − chat applications, email systems, and distributed computing applications use message passing to enable communication between processes running on different machines. How Message Passing Works Message Passing Architecture Process P1 send() receive() ...

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How the OS interfaces between the user, apps , hardware?

Bhanu Priya
Bhanu Priya
Updated on 17-Mar-2026 2K+ Views

A modern computer system consists of the following components − One or more processors Main memory Storage devices (disks) Printers and other output devices Various input/output devices To manage all these components effectively, we require a layer of software called the Operating System (OS). An Operating System is a program that acts as an intermediary or interface between computer users and the computer hardware. It is the most important type of system software in computer systems. Without an operating system, users cannot run application programs on the computer system. OS Interface Structure The ...

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What are the components and shells of UNIX?

Bhanu Priya
Bhanu Priya
Updated on 17-Mar-2026 1K+ Views

The UNIX operating system is built with a layered architecture consisting of four main components that work together to provide a complete computing environment. Understanding these components and the shell interface is essential for working with UNIX systems. Components of UNIX A UNIX system consists of four fundamental components − UNIX System Components USER APPLICATION PROGRAMS OPERATING SYSTEM (UNIX) ...

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