Process Synchronization

These flashcards cover key concepts and terms related to process synchronization as discussed in the lecture notes.

Cooperating Process

A process that can affect or be affected by other processes executing in the system.

Data Inconsistency

Occurs when concurrent access to shared data by processes can lead to incorrect or unexpected results.

Producer-Consumer Problem

A classic synchronization problem where a producer process produces items and a consumer process consumes them.

Shared Memory

A memory access mechanism where multiple processes can read and write to the same memory area.

Buffer

A memory area used to temporarily hold items that are produced by a producer and consumed by a consumer.

Unbounded Buffer

A buffer that places no practical limit on its size, allowing the producer to produce items without restriction.

Bounded Buffer

A buffer with a fixed size limit that requires the consumer to wait if there are no items and the producer to wait if it is full.

Race Condition

A situation where the outcome of a process depends on the sequence or timing of uncontrollable events.

Critical Section

A segment of code where a process may modify shared data and must not allow other processes to enter simultaneously.

Mutual Exclusion

A requirement that ensures if one process is executing in its critical section, no other processes can enter theirs.

Progress

A condition that states that if no process is executing in its critical section, then the processes that want to enter their critical section may move forward.

Bounded Waiting

A requirement that limits the number of times that processes are allowed to enter critical sections after a request has been made.

Peterson's Solution

A classical algorithm for mutual exclusion that uses flags and a turn variable for two processes.

Semaphore

A synchronization tool used to manage process access to shared resources, with operations wait() and signal().