In this post, we will understand the difference between USART and UART modes −USART (Universal Synchronous/Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter)The half-duplex mode is used.The speed of USART is more in comparison to UART.It uses data signals as well as clock to work.The data is transmitted in the format of blocks.It can work similar to UART.It is more complex in comparison to UART.The receiver doesn’t require to know the baud-pace of the transmitter.This is because it gets information by the master and the clock signal.The data is transmitted at a definite (specific) rate.UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter)It uses full-duplex mode.Its speed is less in comparison ... Read More

In this post, we will understand the difference between system calls fork and vfork −The ‘fork’ system callIn this system call, the child and parent process have separate memory spaces.The child and parent process are executed simultaneously.This call uses the copy-on-write as alternative.Child process doesn’t have the ability to suspend execution of the parent process in this system call.The page of one process doesn’t get affected by the page of other process.It is more frequently used.No address space is wasted.If the child process alters the page in the address space, it is not visible to the parent process.The ‘vfork’ system ... Read More

In this post, we will understand the difference between paging and segmentation in operating system −PagingThe address space of a process is broken into fixed sized blocks.These fixed size blocks are known as pages.The operating system divides the memory blocks into pages.The size of the page is determined based on the memory available.This technique is quick in terms of memory access.It can cause internal fragmentation since some pages would not be utilized as much as the other pages.During the process of paging, a logical address is divided into page number and page offset.A page table is used to store the ... Read More

In this post, we will understand the difference between internal and external fragmentation −Internal FragmentationThe difference between the memory allocated and the space required is known as internal fragmentation.In this fragmentation, fixed-sized memory blocks are used to process data.This process occurs when a method or process is larger than the required memory.The method used in internal fragmentation is ‘best-fit’ block.It occurs when the memory is divided into fixed sized partitions.External FragmentationThe unused spaces that is formed between fragments of non-contiguous memory, which are too small to help with a new process, is known as external fragmentation.It uses variable-sized memory blocks ... Read More

In this post, we will understand the difference between contiguous and non-contiguous memory allocation −Contiguous Memory AllocationIn this allocation type, the consecutive blocks of memory is allocated to a file/process.It executes quickly in comparison to non-contiguous memory.It is easy to be controlled by the operating system.Minimum overhead since there are not many address translation when a process is being executed.There is internal fragmentation in contiguous memory allocation.There are different types of partitions: Single partition allocation and multi-partition allocation.Memory gets wasted.The swapped-in process is arranged in the originally allocated space itself.Non-contiguous Memory AllocationIn this type of allocation, separate blocks of memory ... Read More

In this post, we will understand the difference between virtual memory and cache memory in operating system −Cache MemoryIt helps improve the access speed of CPU.It is a memory unit that improves access speed.CPU and other related hardware helps manage the cache memory.This is small in size.It is used to store the most recently used data.Virtual MemoryIt increases the capacity of the main memory.It is a method that involves the hard disk.It is a slow process.It is managed by the virtual memory.The size of virtual memory is larger than that of cache memory.Virtual memory stores the programs that can’t be ... Read More

Both paging and swapping are important concepts in operating systems that place a process in the main memory for its execution, but they are quite different from each other in many aspects. Read this article to learn more about paging and swapping and their specific characteristics. What is Paging? In OS, Paging is a memory management strategy in which the process address space is divided into blocks of the same size, called pages (where the size of each page is power of 2, and is between 512 bytes and 8192 bytes). The size of the process is then measured in ... Read More

Memory is a part of any computer system that is used to store data and instructions. Computer memory is broadly classified into three categories − Primary Memory, Secondary Memory, and Cache Memory. Primary memory is usually in the form of random access memory (RAM) and is used to store data that the CPU needs to access quickly. Secondary memory is usually in the form of hard drives, solid-state drives, or removable storage devices (such as USB drives) and is used to store data that the CPU does not need to access immediately. Read this tutorial to find out more about ... Read More

In this post, we will understand the difference between RAM and ROM memory −RAMIt is known as Random Access Memory.It is a volatile memory that can store data as long as power is being supplied.The data stored over RAM can be retrieved and changed.It is used to store data that needs to be currently processed by CPU (temporary).It has a high-speed memory.The CPU can access the data stored on a RAM.It is large in size and comes with a higher capacity.It can be used as CPU cache, and as primary memory.The data stored on a RAM can be accessed easily.It ... Read More

In this post, we will understand the difference between a linker and a loader −LinkerThe main function of the linker is to generate executable files.The linker takes the input as the object code which would be generated by a compiler/assembler.The process of linking can be understood as a method to combine different snippets of code in order to obtain executable code.There are two types of linkers available: Linkage Editor and Dynamic Linker.Linker also helps combine all the object modules.Linker is responsible to arrange the objects in the program’s address space.LoaderThe main function of a loader is to load executable files ... Read More