User Level and Kernel Level Thread Management

These flashcards cover key concepts related to user level and kernel level thread management, focusing on their interactions in multi-CPU systems.

User Level Threading Library

A library that manages user level threads and schedules them on a single CPU.

Kernel Level Threads

Threads managed by the operating system kernel that can run on multiple CPUs concurrently.

Mutex

A mutual exclusion object that prevents multiple threads from accessing a shared resource simultaneously.

Preemption

The process of temporarily halting a lower priority thread to allow a higher priority thread to execute.

Context Switch

The process of saving the state of a currently running thread so that another thread can be run.

Priority

A value assigned to a thread that determines the order in which threads are scheduled for execution.

Signal

A notification sent to a CPU to indicate that an event has occurred that requires attention, such as scheduling a higher priority thread.

Thread Blocking

When a thread cannot proceed because it is waiting for a resource held by another thread.