Process management in operating systems is a crucial aspect
of computer science that involves the regulation and oversight of multiple
processes carried out by the system. It includes creating, scheduling, and
terminating processes, as well as allocating system resources such as CPU time,
memory, and I/O devices.
Process management enables the efficient use of system
resources, improves system performance, and ensures fairness and transparency
in resource allocation. In this article, we will delve deep into the labyrinth
of computer science and uncover the complex concept of process management in
operating systems, shedding light on what process management are, its
significance, the various types, and illustrative examples.
Theoretical
Underpinnings of Process Management
A process is defined as a sequence of instructions executed
in a predefined order. In simple words, any program that is executed is termed
as a process. Processes change their state as they execute and can be new,
ready, running, waiting, or terminated. A process in an operating system is
managed by the Process Control Block (PCB). The PCB is a data structure that is
maintained by the operating system for each process. It contains information
about the process, such as its process ID, state, priority, CPU registers, and
memory usage.
Process Life Cycle
The process lifecycle in OS is the sequence of states that a process goes through during
its existence. The process life cycle can be divided into the following stages:
·
New: The process has been created but has not
yet been scheduled for execution.
·
Ready: The process is ready to be executed.
·
Running: The process is currently being
executed.
·
Waiting: The process is waiting for an event to
occur, such as the completion of an I/O operation.
·
Terminated: The process has finished executing.
Types of Process
Management
Process management involves a variety of responsibilities
such as process creation, scheduling, process termination, and deadlock. The
important elements of process architecture are stack, heap, data, and text. The
OS scheduler manages processes and schedules them for execution based on their
priority and other factors. There are different types of process management, including:
Batch processing:
In batch processing, a group of similar jobs is executed together without any
user interaction.
Interactive
processing: In interactive processing, the user interacts with the system
and provides input to the system.
Real-time processing:
In real-time processing, the system must respond to events within a specified
time frame.
Conclusion
Process management in operating systems is a critical
component of computer science. Without proper process management, a computer system
can become unresponsive or even crash if one or more processes consume all
system resources. By understanding processes, we gain a better understanding of
how operating systems manage programs. The article has discussed the meaning of
process and process management in operating systems, the process life cycle,
and different states in the process management. It has also explained the
importance of process management in operating systems.
