Operating System 2nd module

Which of the following statements best defines a process in the context of an operating system?

• A single-threaded block of code stored on disk, not yet in execution.

• A passive entity that only contains the set of instructions to be executed.

• An active entity consisting of a program in execution, along with associated resources and status.

• A command that schedules tasks on the CPU without any state information.

In an operating system, what is the key difference between a program and a process?

• A program must be permanently stored in main memory, whereas a process resides in secondary storage.

• A program is a passive entity containing instructions, while a process is a program in execution with its own state and resources.

• A program can only contain a single instruction, whereas a process can contain multiple instructions.

• There is no difference; the terms 'program' and 'process' are used interchangeably.

Which of the following correctly represents the typical states of a process in a uniprocessor system?

• New, Ready, Waiting, Suspend, Terminated

• New, Running, Blocked, Terminated (no Ready state exists)

• New, Ready, Running, Waiting, Terminated

• New, Active, Passive, Blocked, Terminated

Which of the following transitions best describes a process moving from Waiting to Ready?

• The process has finished its time quantum and is placed back on the ready queue.

• An interrupt occurs while the process is executing.

• The I/O event the process was waiting for has completed, making it eligible for CPU scheduling again.

• The process has just been created and is awaiting admission to the ready queue.

Which option best describes the role of the Process Control Block (PCB) in an operating system?

• It is used only during system boot to load processes into memory.

• It stores the global variables used by all processes in the system.

• It serves as a repository of information associated with each process, including CPU registers, scheduling info, and memory management details.

• It is a temporary structure used only while a process is in the running state.

Which of the following is NOT typically stored in a Process Control Block?

• Process State (Ready, Running, etc.)

• CPU Scheduling Information (priority, scheduling queue pointers)

• I/O device addresses allocated to other processes

• Program Counter (PC) and CPU register contents

Which of the following best describes the relationship between the ready queue and waiting (device) queues?

• Processes in the ready queue have higher priority than those in waiting queues.

• The ready queue holds processes waiting for CPU time, while waiting (device) queues hold processes awaiting particular I/O events.

• Once a process moves to a waiting queue, it cannot return to the ready queue.

• There is only one scheduling queue where both CPU-bound and I/O-bound processes wait.

Which of the following statements regarding long-term and short-term schedulers is true?

• The short-term scheduler controls which processes are admitted to the system for processing.

• The long-term scheduler runs much more frequently than the short-term scheduler.

• The long-term scheduler controls the degree of multiprogramming by deciding which processes are admitted into the ready queue.

• The short-term scheduler only swaps processes out of main memory to reduce memory usage.

Why is context switching considered an overhead in CPU scheduling?

• Because it permanently increases the CPU's clock speed during switching.

• Because the system must allocate additional CPU cores to handle the switch.

• Because the CPU must save the current state of a process and load the new process state, consuming time that does not contribute to productive work.

• Because context switching always corrupts the program counter of the running processes.

A process P1 is preempted by the scheduler to allow P2 to run. Which of the following actions does NOT occur during a typical context switch?

• Saving the register contents of P1 into its PCB.

• Restoring the register contents of P2 from its PCB.

• Allocating new memory regions to P2 based on its size.

• Updating various CPU scheduling data structures (e.g., ready queue).