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CS T51 – OPERATING SYSTEMS

UNIT – II

Threads: Overview – Threading issues - CPU Scheduling – Basic Concepts – Scheduling

Criteria – Scheduling Algorithms – Multiple-Processor Scheduling – Real Time
Scheduling - The Critical- Section Problem – Synchronization Hardware – Semaphores –
Classic problems of Synchronization – Critical regions – Monitors.

2 Marks

1. Define throughput? (APR’14 )

 Throughput refers to the performance of tasks by a computing service or device

over a specific period.
 It measures the amount of completed work against time consumed and may be
used to measure the performance of a processor, memory and/or network
communications.
 Number of processes completed per unit time.
 May range from 10 / second to 1 / hour depending on the specific processes.

2. Define race condition? (APR’14 )

 A race condition is a condition of a program where its behavior depends on

relative timing or interleaving of multiple threads or processes.
 Race condition is a situation where-
o The final output produced depends on the execution order of
instructions of different processes.
o Several processes compete with each other.

3. Define Aging and starvation? (APR’ 14)

 Starvation is a phenomenon in which a process that is present in the ready state

and has low priority, keeps on waiting for the CPU allocation because some
other process with higher priority comes with due respect to time.
 Aging is a technique of gradually increasing the priority of processes that wait
in the system for a long time.

4. What are the benefits of multithreaded programming? (NOV’14) )

 Resource sharing: As the threads can share the memory and resources of any
process it allows any application to perform multiple activities inside the same
address space.
 Utilization of MultipleProcessor Architecture: The different threads can run
parallel on the multiple processors hence, this enables the utilization of the
processor to a large extent and efficiency.

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 Reduced Context Switching Time: The threads minimize the context

switching time as in Thread Context Switching, the virtual memory space
remains the same.
 Economical: The allocation of memory and resources during process creation
comes with a cost. As the threads can distribute resources of the process it is
more economical to create context-switch threads.

5. What are the requirements that a solution to the critical section problem must
satisfy? (May’16) (NOV’14)
What are Critical Regions? List down various mechanisms used to deal with
critical region problem. (NOV’16)
Define Critical Section [ Nov 2018]. Explain with suitable example [May 2019]

 A critical region is an area of code where the code expects shared resources not
to be changed or viewed by other threads while executing inside the critical
region.
 Critical Section is the part of a program which tries to access shared resources.
That resource may be any resource in a computer like a memory location, Data
structure, CPU or any IO device.
 The critical section cannot be executed by more than one process at the same
time;
Requirements / Solutions
 Mutual Exclusion - Mutual exclusion implies that only one process can be
inside the critical section at any time. If any other processes require the
critical section, they must wait until it is free.
 Progress -Progress means that if a process is not using the critical section,
then it should not stop any other process from accessing it. In other words,
any process can enter a critical section if it is free.
 Bounded Waiting -Bounded waiting means that each process must have a
limited waiting time. It should not wait endlessly to access the critical
section.

Example - Process A changing the data in a memory location while another process B
is trying to read the data from the same memory location.

6. What is a thread? (APR’15, NOV ’15, May 18)

Define the term thread [Nov 2019]

 A thread is a basic unit of CPU utilization, consisting of a program counter, a

stack, and a set of registers, (and a thread ID.)
 Thread is a single sequence stream within a process.
 Threads are very useful in modern programming whenever a process has multiple
tasks to perform independently of the others.

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 They are called as light weight processes

 Types: Kernel Level Thread (KLT) ,User Level thread (ULT)

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7. Define CPU scheduling (APR’15)

 In Multiprogramming systems, the Operating system schedules the processes

on the CPU to have the maximum utilization of it and this procedure is called
CPU scheduling.
 CPU scheduling is a process which allows one process to use the CPU while
the execution of another process is on hold(in waiting state) due to
unavailability of any resource like I/O etc, thereby making full use of CPU.
The aim of CPU scheduling is to make the system efficient, fast and fair.
 Type: non-preemptive and preemptive Scheduling

8. What is a monitor? (NOV ’15) [May 2019]

 Monitors are used for process synchronization.

 Monitors are defined as the construct of programming language, which helps in
controlling shared data access.
 The Monitor is a module or package which encapsulates shared data structure,
procedures, and the synchronization between the concurrent procedure
invocations.
 Monitors are also often called conditional waits or conditional monitors.

9. Compare user threads and kernel threads? (May’16)

User Level Thread Kernel Level Thread

User-level threads are faster to create Kernel level threads are slower to create
and manage. and manage.
Implemented by a thread_library user Operating system support directly to
level. Kernel threads.
User level thread can run on any Kernel level threads are specific to the
operating system. operating system.
Implementation of User threads is easy. Implementation of Kernel thread is
complicated.
Context switch time is less. Context switch time is more.

10. Define Medium Term Scheduler (NOV’16)

 Medium-term schedulers are those schedulers whose decision will have a mid-
term effect on the performance of the system.
 It is responsible for swapping of a process from the Main Memory to
Secondary Memory and vice-versa.
 It can re-introduce the process into memory and execution can be continued.
 Speed is in between both short and long term scheduler.
 A running process may become suspended if it takes an I/O request.
 A suspended process cannot make any progress towards completion.

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 The main objective of medium term scheduler is to remove the process from
the memory and create space for other processes; the suspended process is then
moved to secondary storage.

11. What is the difference between process and thread? (May 2017 )

Process Thread
A process is a program under A thread is a lightweight process that
execution i.e an active program. can be managed independently by a
scheduler.
Processes require more time for Threads require less time for context
context switching as they are switching as they are lighter than
heavier. processes.
Processes are totally independent and A thread may share some memory with
don’t share memory. its peer threads.
Processes require more resources Threads generally need less resources
than threads. than processes.
Processes have independent data and A thread shares the data segment, code
code segments. segment, files etc. with its peer threads.
All the different processes are treated All user level peer threads are treated as
separately by the operating system. a single task by the operating system.

12. What are the uses of job queues, ready queue and device queue? (MAY’17)

 Job queue − This queue keeps all the processes in the system.
 Ready queue − This queue keeps a set of all processes residing in main memory,
ready and waiting to execute. A new process is always put in this queue.
 Device queues − The processes which are blocked due to unavailability of an I/O
device constitute this queue.

13. What is Semaphore? [Nov 2017] [ May 2018]

 A semaphore is a variable that is used to allow process synchronization.

 Semaphores work on a specific condition and allow the processor to communicate
between multiple processes. A semaphore can have a value of 1 or 0.
 A semaphore has two operations:
 wait()- This operation decrements the value of the semaphore by 1, i.e., s = s - 1;.

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 signal()-This operation increments the value of the semaphore by 1, i.e., s = s + 1;.

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14. What are the different CPU Scheduling algorithms [Nov 2017]

 First Come First Serve (FCFS)

 Shortest-Job-First (SJF) Scheduling
 Shortest Remaining Time
 Priority Scheduling
 Round Robin Scheduling
 Multilevel Queue Scheduling

15. Write about Real time scheduling [ Nov 2018]

 Real-time scheduling is more critical and difficult than traditional time-sharing.

 The scheduling problem is concerned with the allocation of the resources to
satisfy the timing constraint
 Real-Time scheduling can be categorized into hard vs soft.
 A hard real-time system must execute a set of concurrent real-time tasks in a
such a way that all time-critical tasks meet their specified deadlines. Every task
needs computational and data resources to complete the job.
 Hard real-time scheduling can be used for soft real-time scheduling.

16. Draw the Diagrammatic view of monitor [Nov 2019]

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17. What is fragmentation? [Sep 2020]

 Fragmentation is an unwanted problem where the memory blocks cannot be

allocated to the processes due to their small size and the blocks remain unused.
 It can also be understood as when the processes are loaded and removed from
the memory, they create free space or hole in the memory and these small
blocks cannot be allocated to new upcoming processes and results in inefficient
use of memory.
 Basically, there are two types of fragmentation:
o Internal Fragmentation
o External Fragmentation

18. How does the system detect Thrashing [ Sep 2020]

 Thrashing is caused by under allocation of the minimum number of pages

required by a process, forcing it to continuously page fault.
 The system can detect thrashing by evaluating the level of CPU utilization as
compared to the level of multiprogramming.
 It can be eliminated by reducing the level of multiprogramming.

PART 1 [ 11 Marks]
1.1 Discuss how to do recovery from deadlock [5] [Apr 2014]

Deadlock recovery performs when a deadlock is detected. When deadlock detected, then

our system stops working, and after the recovery of the deadlock, the system starts
working again.

Therefore, after the detection of deadlock, a method/way must require to recover that
deadlock to run the system again. The method/way is called as deadlock recovery. In order
to recover the system from deadlocks, either OS considers resources or processes.

Various ways of deadlock recovery

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1. Process Termination:
This method of deadlock recovery through killing processes is the simplest way of
deadlock recovery. Sometime it is best to kill a process that can be return from the
beginning with no ill effects.

(a). Abort all the Deadlocked Processes:

 Aborting all the processes will certainly break the deadlock, but with a great
expense.
 The deadlocked processes may have computed for a long time and the result of
those partial computations must be discarded and there is a probability to
recalculate them later.
(b). Abort one process at a time untill deadlock is eliminated:
 Abort one deadlocked process at a time, untill deadlock cycle is eliminated from
the system.
 Due to this method, there may be considerable overhead, because after aborting
each process, it is important to run a deadlock detection algorithm to check
whether any processes are still deadlocked.

2. Resource Preemption:
 The ability to take a resource away from a process, have another process use it, and
then give it back without the process noticing. It is highly dependent on the nature
of the resource.
 Deadlock recovery through preemption is too difficult or sometime impossible.
This method will raise three issues –

(a). Selecting a victim:

 In this method, it is first determined which resources and which processes are to be
preempted and also the order to minimize the cost.
(b). Rollback:
 In this case of deadlock recovery through rollback, whenever a deadlock is
detected, it is easy to see which resources are needed.
 To do the recovery of deadlock, a process that owns a needed resource is rolled
back to a point in time before it acquired some other resource just by starting one
of its earlier checkpoints.
(c). Starvation:
 In a system, it may happen that same process is always picked as a victim. As a
result, that process will never complete its designated task.

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 This situation is called Starvation and must be avoided. One solution is that a
process must be picked as a victim only a finite number of times.

1.2 Explain how deadlocks are handled in OS [Nov 2017]

Deadlock: In the multiprogramming operating system, there are a number of processing

which fights for a finite number of resources and sometimes waiting process never gets a
chance to change its state because the resources for which it is waiting are held by another
waiting process.

A set of a process is called deadlock when they are waiting for the happening of an event
which is called by some another event in the same set.

Here every process will follow the system model which means the process requests a
resource if not allocated then wait otherwise it allocated will use the resources and release
it after use.
Methods for handling deadlock - There are mainly four methods for handling
deadlock.

1. Deadlock ignorance

 It is the most popular method and it acts as if no deadlock and the user will restart.
 As handling deadlock is expensive to be called of a lot of codes need to be altered
which will decrease the performance so for less critical jobs deadlock are ignored.
Ostrich algorithm is used in deadlock Ignorance.
 Used in windows, Linux etc.

2. Deadlock prevention

It means that we design such a system where there is no chance of having a deadlock.

 Mutual exclusion:
o It can’t be resolved as it is the hardware property.
o For example, the printer cannot be simultaneously shared by several
processes.
o This is very difficult because some resources are not sharable.
 Hold and wait:

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o Hold and wait can be resolved using the conservative approach where a
process can start it and only if it has acquired all the resources.
 Active approach:
o Here the process acquires only requires resources but whenever a new
resource requires it must first release all the resources.
 Wait time out:
o Here there is a maximum time bound until which a process can wait for
other resources after which it must release the resources.
 Circular wait:
o In order to remove circular wait, we assign a number to every resource and
the process can request only in the increasing order otherwise the process
must release all the high number acquires resources and then make a fresh
request.
 No pre-emption:
o In no pre-emption, we allow forceful pre-emption where a resource can be
forcefully pre-empted.
o The pre-empted resource is added to the list of resources where the process
is waiting.
o The new process can be restarted only when it regains its old resources.
Priority must be given to a process which is in waiting for state.

3. Deadlock avoidance

 Here whenever a process enters into the system it must declare maximum demand.
To the deadlock problem before the deadlock occurs.
 This approach employs an algorithm to access the possibility that deadlock would
occur and not act accordingly.
 If the necessary condition of deadlock is in place it is still possible to avoid
feedback by allocating resources carefully.

A deadlock avoidance algorithm dynamically examines the resources allocation state to

ensure that a circular wait condition case never exists. Where the resources allocation state
is defined by the of available and allocated resources and the maximum demand of the
process.

There are 3 states of the system:

Safe state
When a system can allocate the resources to the process in such a way so that they still
avoid deadlock then the state is called safe state. When there is a safe sequence exit then
we can say that the system is in the safe state.

A sequence is in the safe state only if there exists a safe sequence. A sequence of
process P1, P2, Pn is a safe sequence for the current allocation state if for each Pi the
resources request that Pi can still make can be satisfied by currently available resources
pulls the resources held by all Pj with j<i.
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Methods for deadlock avoidance

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1) Resource allocation graph

 This graph is also kind of graphical bankers' algorithm where a process is denoted
by a circle Pi and resources is denoted by a rectangle RJ (.dots) inside the
resources represents copies.

 Presence of a cycle in the resource’s allocation graph is necessary but not sufficient
condition for detection of deadlock. If the type of every resource has exactly one
copy than the presence of cycle is necessary as well as sufficient condition for
detection of deadlock.

This is in unsafe state (cycle exist) if P1 request P2 and P2 request R1 then deadlock will
occur.

2) Bankers’s algorithm

The resource allocation graph algorithms not applicable to the system with multiple
instances of the type of each resource. So, for this system Banker’s algorithm is used.
Here whenever a process enters into the system it must declare maximum demand
possible.

At runtime, we maintain some data structure like current allocation, current need, current
available etc. Whenever a process requests some resources, we first check whether the
system is in a safe state or not meaning if every process requires maximum resources then
is there any sequence in which request can be entertaining if yes then request is allocated
otherwise rejected.

Safety algorithm -This algorithm is used to find whether system is in safe state or not we
can find:

Remaining Need = Max Need – Current allocation

Current available = Total available – Current allocation

Consider the following 3 process total resources are given for A= 6, B= 5, C= 7, D = 6

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First we find the need matrix by Need= maximum – allocation .Then find
available resources = total – allocated
A B C D( 6 5 7 6) - A B C D( 3 4 6 4) , Available resources A B C D ( 3 1
1 2)
Then we check whether system is in deadlock or not & find safe sequence of process.

P1 can be satisfied: Available= P1 allocated + available (1,2,2,1) +(3,1,1,2) = (4,3,3, 3)

P2 can be satisfied: Available=P2 allocated +available (1,0,3,3) +(4,3,3,3) = (5,3,6,6)
P3 can be satisfied: Available=P3 allocated +available (1,2,1,0) +(5,3,6,6) = (6,5,7,6)

So, the system is safe and the safe sequence is P1 → P2 → P3

4. Detection and recovery

When the system is in deadlock then one method is to inform the operates and then
operator deal with deadlock manually and the second method is system will automatically
recover from deadlock. There are two ways to recover from deadlock:

 Process termination: Deadlock can be eliminated by aborting a process. Abort all

deadlock process. Abort is processed at a time until the deadlock cycle is
eliminated. This can help to recover the system from file deadlock.
 Resources preemption: To eliminate deadlock using resources preemption, we
prompt the same resources pas processes and give these resources to another
process until the deadlock cycle is broken. Here a process is partially rollback until
the last checkpoint or and hen detection algorithm is executed.

1.3 Brief about Bounded-buffer problem [Apr 2014]

How Producer consumer problem can be solved using semaphore? Explain the
solution with an example [Sep 2020]

Bounded buffer problem, which is also called producer consumer problem, is one of the
classic problems of synchronization. Let's start by understanding the problem here, before
moving on to the solution and program code.

Problem Statement: There is a buffer of n slots and each slot is capable of storing one
unit of data. There are two processes running, namely, producer and consumer, which are
operating on the buffer.

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Bounded Buffer Problem

A producer tries to insert data into an empty slot of the buffer. A consumer tries to remove
data from a filled slot in the buffer. Those two processes won't produce the expected
output if they are being executed concurrently. There needs to be a way to make the
producer and consumer work in an independent manner.
Solution: One solution of this problem is to use semaphores. The semaphores which will
be used here are:

 m, a binary semaphore which is used to acquire and release the lock.

 empty, a counting semaphore whose initial value is the number of slots in the
buffer, since, initially all slots are empty.
 full, a counting semaphore whose initial value is 0.

At any instant, the current value of empty represents the number of empty slots in the
buffer and full represents the number of occupied slots in the buffer.

The Producer Operation: The pseudocode of the producer function looks like this:
do {
// wait until empty > 0 and then decrement 'empty'
wait(empty);
// acquire lock
wait(mutex);
/* perform the insert operation in a slot */
// release lock
signal(mutex);
// increment 'full'
signal(full);
} while(TRUE)

 A producer first waits until there is atleast one empty slot.

 Then it decrements the empty semaphore because, there will now be one less
empty slot, since the producer is going to insert data in one of those slots.
 Then, it acquires lock on the buffer, so that the consumer cannot access the buffer
until producer completes its operation.
 After performing the insert operation, the lock is released and the value of full is
incremented because the producer has just filled a slot in the buffer.

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The Consumer Operation:The pseudocode for the consumer function looks like this:
do
{
// wait until full > 0 and then decrement 'full'
wait(full);
// acquire the lock
wait(mutex);
/* perform the remove operation in a slot */
// release the lock
signal(mutex);
// increment 'empty'
signal(empty);
} while(TRUE);

 The consumer waits until there is atleast one full slot in the buffer.
 Then it decrements the full semaphore because the number of occupied slots will
be decreased by one, after the consumer completes its operation.
 After that, the consumer acquires lock on the buffer.
 Following that, the consumer completes the removal operation so that the data
from one of the full slots is removed.
 Then, the consumer releases the lock.
 Finally, the empty semaphore is incremented by 1, because the consumer has just
removed data from an occupied slot, thus making it empty.

1.4 Brief about reader-writer problem [6] [April 2014]

Write short notes on Readers-Writers Problem? (NOV’14)

The readers-writers problem is a classical problem of process synchronization, it relates to

a data set such as a file that is shared between more than one process at a time. Among
these various processes, some are Readers - which can only read the data set; they do not
perform any updates, some are Writers - can both read and write in the data sets.

The readers-writers problem is used for managing synchronization among various reader
and writer process so that there are no problems with the data sets, i.e. no inconsistency is
generated.

The Problem Statement

 There is a shared resource which should be accessed by multiple processes.
 There are two types of processes in this context. They are reader and writer.
 Any number of readers can read from the shared resource simultaneously, but only
one writer can write to the shared resource.
 When a writer is writing data to the resource, no other process can access the
resource. A writer cannot write to the resource if there are non-zero number of
readers accessing the resource at that time.

The Solution

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 From the above problem statement, it is evident that readers have higher priority
than writer. If a writer wants to write to the resource, it must wait until there are no
readers currently accessing that resource.

 Here, we use one mutex m and a semaphore w. An integer variable read_count is

used to maintain the number of readers currently accessing the resource. The
variable read_count is initialized to 0. A value of 1 is given initially to m and w.

 Instead of having the process to acquire lock on the shared resource, we use the
mutex m to make the process to acquire and release lock whenever it is updating
the read_count variable.

The code for the writer process looks like this:

while(TRUE)
{
wait(w);
/* perform the write operation */
signal(w);
}

And, the code for the reader process looks like this:
while(TRUE)
{
//acquire lock
wait(m);
read_count++;
if(read_count == 1)
wait(w);
//release lock
signal(m);
/* perform the reading operation */
// acquire lock
wait(m);
read_count--;
if(read_count == 0)
signal(w);
// release lock
signal(m);
}

 As seen above in the code for the writer, the writer just waits on the w semaphore
until it gets a chance to write to the resource.
 After performing the write operation, it increments w so that the next writer can
access the resource.
 On the other hand, in the code for the reader, the lock is acquired whenever the
read_count is updated by a process.
 When a reader wants to access the resource, first it increments the read_count
value, then accesses the resource and then decrements the read_count value.

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 The semaphore w is used by the first reader which enters the critical section and
the last reader which exits the critical section.
 The reason for this is, when the first readers enter the critical section, the writer is
blocked from the resource. Only new readers can access the resource now.
 Similarly, when the last reader exits the critical section, it signals the writer using
the w semaphore because there are zero readers now and a writer can have the
chance to access the resource.

1.5 Explain Synchronization and concurrency control [Nov 2014]

Synchronization
 Process Synchronization means sharing system resources by processes in a such a
way that, Concurrent access to shared data is handled thereby minimizing the
chance of inconsistent data. Maintaining data consistency demands mechanisms to
ensure synchronized execution of cooperating processes.
 Process Synchronization was introduced to handle problems that arose while
multiple process executions.

Critical Section Problem

A Critical Section is a code segment that accesses shared variables and has to be executed
as an atomic action. It means that in a group of cooperating processes, at a given point of
time, only one process must be executing its critical section. If any other process also
wants to execute its critical section, it must wait until the first one finishes.

Solution to Critical Section Problem -A solution to the critical section problem must
satisfy the following three conditions:

1. Mutual Exclusion - Out of a group of cooperating processes, only one process can be
in its critical section at a given point of time.
2. Progress -If no process is in its critical section, and if one or more threads want to
execute their critical section then any one of these threads must be allowed to get into its
critical section.
3. Bounded Waiting - After a process makes a request for getting into its critical section,
there is a limit for how many other processes can get into their critical section, before this
process's request is granted. So, after the limit is reached, system must grant the process
permission to get into its critical section.

Concurrency

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 Concurrency is the execution of the multiple instruction sequences at the same

time. It happens in the operating system when there are several process threads
running in parallel.
 The running process threads always communicate with each other through shared
memory or message passing. Concurrency results in sharing of resources result in
problems like deadlocks and resources starvation.
 It helps in techniques like coordinating execution of processes, memory allocation
and execution scheduling for maximizing throughput.
 Two processes are concurrent when they are executed in a way that their execution
intervals overlap

Principles of Concurrency:Both interleaved and overlapped processes can be viewed as

examples of concurrent processes, they both present the same problems. The relative
speed of execution cannot be predicted. It depends on the following:

 The activities of other processes

 The way operating system handles interrupts
 The scheduling policies of the operating system

Problems in Concurrency:

 Sharing global resources –Sharing of global resources safely is difficult. If

two processes both make use of a global variable and both perform read and
write on that variable, then the order iin which various read and write are
executed is critical.
 Optimal allocation of resources –It is difficult for the operating system to
manage the allocation of resources optimally.
 Locating programming errors –It is very difficult to locate a programming
error because reports are usually not reproducible.
 Locking the channel –It may be inefficient for the operating system to
simply lock the channel and prevents its use by other processes.

Advantages of Concurrency:
 Running of multiple applications –It enable to run multiple applications at
the same time.
 Better resource utilization –It enables that the resources that are unused by
one application can be used for other applications.
 Better average response time –Without concurrency, each application has to
be run to completion before the next one can be run.
 Better performance –It enables the better performance by the operating
system. When one application uses only the processor and another application
uses only the disk drive then the time to run both applications concurrently to
completion will be shorter than the time to run each application
consecutively.

Drawbacks of Concurrency:
 It is required to protect multiple applications from one another.

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 It is required to coordinate multiple applications through additional

mechanisms.
 Additional performance overheads and complexities in operating systems are
required for switching among applications.
 Sometimes running too many applications concurrently leads to severely
degraded performance.

Issues of Concurrency:
 Non-atomic – Operations that are non-atomic but interruptible by multiple
processes can cause problems.
 Race conditions – A race condition occurs of the outcome depends on which
of several processes gets to a point first.
 Blocking – Processes can block waiting for resources. A process could be
blocked for long period of time waiting for input from a terminal. If the
process is required to periodically update some data, this would be very
undesirable.
 Starvation – It occurs when a process does not obtain service to progress.
 Deadlock – It occurs when two processes are blocked and hence neither can
proceed to execute.

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1.5 Write short notes on Dining-Philosophers Problem (NOV’14)

Discuss related problems with reader-writers problem and the dining philosopher’s
problem [Nov 2014]
Give the solution for Dining-philosopher problem using monitors (NOV’16)
Outline the solution using semaphore to solve dining philosopher problem [Nov 2019]
What is Semaphore? How do you solve dining philosopher problem using
semaphore? [Nov 2018]

Dining Philosophers Problem

The dining philosophers problem is classic synchronization problem which is used to
evaluate situations where there is a need of allocating multiple resources to multiple
processes

Problem Statement
Consider there are five philosophers sitting around a circular dining table and their job is
to think and eat alternatively. The dining table has five chopsticks and a bowl of rice in the
middle as shown in the below figure.

Dining Philosophers Problem

At any instant, a philosopher is either eating or thinking. When a philosopher wants to eat,
he uses two chopsticks - one from their left and one from their right. When a philosopher
wants to think, he keeps down both chopsticks at their original place.

A bowl of noodles is placed at the centre of the table along with five chopsticks for each
of the philosophers. To eat a philosopher needs both their right and a left chopstick. A
philosopher can only eat if both immediate left and right chopsticks of the philosopher is
available. In case if both immediate left and right chopsticks of the philosopher are not
available then the philosopher puts down their (either left or right) chopstick and starts
thinking again.

The dining philosopher demonstrates a large class of concurrency control problems hence
it's a classic synchronization problem.

Solution

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 From the problem statement, it is clear that a philosopher can think for an
indefinite amount of time. But when a philosopher starts eating, he has to stop at
some point of time. The philosopher is in an endless cycle of thinking and eating.
 An array of five semaphores, stick [5], for each of the five chopsticks.

The code for each philosopher looks like:

while(TRUE)
{
wait(stick[i]);
/* mod is used because if i=5, next chopstick is 1 (dining table is circular) */
wait(stick[(i+1) % 5]);
/* eat */
signal(stick[i]);
signal(stick[(i+1) % 5]);
/* think */
}
When a philosopher wants to eat the rice, he will wait for the chopstick at his left and
picks up that chopstick. Then he waits for the right chopstick to be available, and then
picks it too. After eating, he puts both the chopsticks down.

But if all five philosophers are hungry simultaneously, and each of them pickup one
chopstick, then a deadlock situation occurs because they will be waiting for another
chopstick forever. The possible solutions for this are:
 A philosopher must be allowed to pick up the chopsticks only if both the left and
right chopsticks are available.
 Allow only four philosophers to sit at the table. That way, if all the four
philosophers pick up four chopsticks, there will be one chopstick left on the table.
So, one philosopher can start eating and eventually, two chopsticks will be
available. In this way, deadlocks can be avoided.

Dining-Philosophers Solution Using Monitors

 A monitor is used to control access to state variables and condition variables.
 The fork and the spaghetti are not part of the monitor.
 Monitor procedures are defined for the actions of obtaining the forks and putting
them down.
 These are used as entry and exit segments for program segments (here
philosophers) which actually use the forks.
 A philosopher can be one of the three states THINKING, EATING, HUNGRY.
 For each philosopher, there is going to be condition variables where the
philosopher will WAIT if he/she is hungry but one or both of the forks are
unavailable.
 If a philosopher wants to eat, he will check the state of his neighbours and will eat
of both his neighbours are not eating. Else he will wait.
 A philosopher who has finished eating will give his neighbour a chance to eat, if
they are hungry and their other chopstick is free.

This solution imposes the restriction that a philosopher may pick up her chopsticks only if
both of them are available.
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 Consider following data structure:

o enum {THINKING, HUNGRY, EATING} state[5];
 Philosopher i can set the variable state[i] = EATING only if her two neighbors are
not eating:
 (state[(i+4) % 5] != EATING) and(state[(i+1) % 5] != EATING).
 And also declare: Condition self[5];
 This allows philosopher i to delay herself when she is hungry but is unable to
obtain the chopsticks she needs. A monitor solution to the dining-philosopher
problem:

// Dining-Philosophers Solution Using Monitors

monitor DP
{
status state[5];
condition self[5];

// Pickup chopsticks
Pickup(int i)
{
// indicate that I’m hungry
state[i] = hungry;

// set state to eating in test() only if my left and right neighbors are not eating
test(i);

// if unable to eat, wait to be signaled

if (state[i] != eating)
self[i].wait;
}

// Put down chopsticks

Putdown(int i)
{

// indicate that I’m thinking

state[i] = thinking;

// if right neighbor R=(i+1)%5 is hungry & both of R’s neighbors are not eating,
// set R’s state to eating and wake it up by signaling R’s CV
test((i + 1) % 5);
test((i + 4) % 5);
}

test(int i)
{

if (state[(i + 1) % 5] != eating
&&state[(i + 4) % 5] != eating
&& state[i] == hungry) {
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// indicate that I’m eating

state[i] = eating;

// signal() has no effect during Pickup(), but is important to wake up waiting

// hungry philosophers during Putdown()
self[i].signal();
}
}

init()
{

// Execution of Pickup(), Putdown() and test() are all mutually exclusive

//i.e. only one at a time can be executing
for
i = 0 to 4

// Verify that this monitor-based solution is deadlock free and mutually exclusive in
that //no 2 neighbors can eat simultaneously
state[i] = thinking;
}
} // end of monitor

We also need to declare condition self[5];

 This allows philosopher i to delay herself when she is hungry but is unable to obtain
the chopsticks she needs. We are now in a position to describe our solution to the
dining-philosophers problem.
 The distribution of the chopsticks is controlled by the monitor Dining Philosophers.
Each philosopher, before starting to eat, must invoke the operation pickup().
 This act may result in the suspension of the philosopher process. After the successful
completion of the operation, the philosopher may eat.
 Following this, the philosopher invokes the putdown() operation. Thus, philosopher i
must invoke the operations pickup() and putdown() in the following sequence:

DiningPhilosophers.pickup(i);
...
eat
...
DiningPhilosophers.putdown(i);

 It is easy to show that this solution ensures that no two neighbors are eating
simultaneously and that no deadlocks will occur. We note, however, that it is
possible for a philosopher to starve to death.

Solution of Dining Philosophers Problem

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A solution of the Dining Philosophers Problem is to use a semaphore to represent a

chopstick. A chopstick can be picked up by executing a wait operation on the semaphore
and released by executing a signal semaphore.

The structure of the chopstick is −semaphore chopstick [5];

Initially the elements of the chopstick are initialized to 1 as the chopsticks are on the table
and not picked up by a philosopher.The structure of a random philosopher i is given as
follows –

do {
wait( chopstick[i] );
wait( chopstick[ (i+1) % 5] );
..
. EATING THE RICE
.
signal( chopstick[i] );
signal( chopstick[ (i+1) % 5] );
.
. THINKING
.
} while(1);

 In the above structure, first wait operation is performed on chopstick[i] and

chopstick[ (i+1) % 5]. This means that the philosopher i has picked up the
chopsticks on his sides. Then the eating function is performed.
 After that, signal operation is performed on chopstick[i] and chopstick[ (i+1) % 5].
This means that the philosopher i has eaten and put down the chopsticks on his
sides. Then the philosopher goes back to thinking.

Difficulty with the solution

The above solution makes sure that no two neighboring philosophers can eat at the same
time. But this solution can lead to a deadlock. This may happen if all the philosophers pick
their left chopstick simultaneously. Then none of them can eat and deadlock occurs.

Some of the ways to avoid deadlock are as follows −

 There should be at most four philosophers on the table.
 An even philosopher should pick the right chopstick and then the left chopstick
while an odd philosopher should pick the left chopstick and then the right
chopstick.
 A philosopher should only be allowed to pick their chopstick if both are available
at the same time.

1.6 Write short notes on Monitors (OR) Explain the structure of monitors. [Nov
2016]

 Monitors are used for process synchronization. With the help of programming
languages, we can use a monitor to achieve mutual exclusion among the

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processes. Example of monitors: Java Synchronized methods such as Java

offers notify() and wait() constructs.

 In other words, monitors are defined as the construct of programming language,

which helps in controlling shared data access.

 The Monitor is a module or package which encapsulates shared data structure,

procedures, and the synchronization between the concurrent procedure invocations.

Characteristics of Monitors.

1. Inside the monitors, we can only execute one process at a time.

2. Monitors are the group of procedures, and condition variables that are merged
together in a special type of module.
3. If the process is running outside the monitor, then it cannot access the monitor’s
internal variable. But a process can call the procedures of the monitor.
4. Monitors offer high-level of synchronization
5. Monitors were derived to simplify the complexity of synchronization problems.
6. There is only one process that can be active at a time inside the monitor.

Components of Monitor : There are four main components of the monitor:

1. Initialization
2. Private data
3. Monitor procedure
4. Monitor entry queue

 Initialization: – Initialization comprises the code, and when the monitors are
created,
 Private Data: – Private data is another component of the monitor. It comprises all
the private data, and the private data contains private procedures that can only be
used within the monitor. So, outside the monitor, private data is not visible.
 Monitor Procedure: – Monitors Procedures are those procedures that can be
called from outside the monitor.
 Monitor Entry Queue: – Monitor entry queue is another essential component of
the monitor that includes all the threads, which are called procedures.

Syntax of monitor

Condition Variables

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There are two types of operations that we can perform on the condition variables of the
monitor:
1. Wait
2. Signal

Suppose there are two condition variables condition a, b // Declaring variable

Wait Operation
 a.wait(): – The process that performs wait operation on the condition variables are
suspended and locate the suspended process in a block queue of that condition
variable.

Signal Operation
 a.signal() : – If a signal operation is performed by the process on the condition
variable, then a chance is provided to one of the blocked processes.

Advantages of Monitor

It makes the parallel programming easy, and if monitors are used, then there is less error-
prone as compared to the semaphore.

1.7 Demonstrate that monitors and semaphores are equivalent insofar as they can be
used to implement the same types of synchronization problems [Apr 2019]

Describe the difference between wait[A], where A is semaphore and B Wait () ,where
B is a condition variable in a monitor [Nov 2014]

A semaphore can be implemented using the following monitor code:

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 A monitor could be implemented using a semaphore in the following manner. Each

condition variable is represented by a queue of threads waiting for the condition.
Each thread has a semaphore associated with its queue entry.
 When a thread performs await operation, it creates a new semaphore (initialized to
zero), appends the semaphore to the queue associated with the condition variable,
and performs a blocking semaphore decrement operation on the newly created
semaphore.
 When a thread performs a signal on a condition variable, the first process in the
queue is awakened by performing an increment on the corresponding semaphore.

 Semaphore and Monitor both allow processes to access the shared resources in
mutual exclusion. Both are the process synchronization tool. Instead, they are very
different from each other.

o Where Semaphore is an integer variable which can be operated only by

wait() and signal() operation apart from the initialization.
o On the other hand, the Monitor type is an abstract data type whose
construct allow one process to get activate at one time.

BASIS FOR SEMAPHORE MONITOR

COMPARISO
N
Basic Semaphores is an integer Monitor is an abstract data type.
variable S.
Action The value of Semaphore S The Monitor type contains
indicates the number of shared shared variables and the set of
resources availabe in the system procedures that operate on the
shared variable.
Access When any process access the When any process wants to
shared resources it perform access the shared variables in the
wait() operation on S and when monitor, it needs to access it
it releases the shared resources through the procedures.
it performs signal() operation on
S.
Condition Semaphore does not have Monitor has condition variables.
variable condition variables.

1.8 Discuss the concept of segmentation with paging in OS [Nov 2017]

Segmented Paging- Segmented paging is a scheme that implements the combination of

segmentation and paging to get the best features out of both the techniques.In Segmented
Paging, the main memory is divided into variable size segments which are further divided
into fixed size pages.
1. Pages are smaller than segments.
2. Each Segment has a page table which means every program has multiple page
tables.
3. The logical address is represented as Segment Number (base address), Page
number and page offset.

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Working-In segmented paging,

 Process is first divided into segments and then each segment is divided into pages.
 These pages are then stored in the frames of main memory.
 A page table exists for each segment that keeps track of the frames storing the pages of
that segment.
 Each page table occupies one frame in the main memory.
 Number of entries in the page table of a segment = Number of pages that segment is
divided.
 A segment table exists that keeps track of the frames storing the page tables of
segments.
 Number of entries in the segment table of a process = Number of segments that
process is divided.
 The base address of the segment table is stored in the segment table base register.
 
Translating Logical Address into Physical Address-
 CPU always generates a logical address.
 A physical address is needed to access the main memory.

 Step-01:CPU generates a logical address consisting of three parts-

1. Segment Number
2. Page Number
3. Page Offset

 
 Segment Number specifies the specific segment from which CPU wants to reads data.
 Page Number specifies the specific page of that segment from which CPU wants to
read the data.
 Page Offset specifies the specific word on that page that CPU wants to read.
 
Step-02:
 For the generated segment number, corresponding entry is located in segment table.
 Segment table provides the frame number of the frame storing the page table of the
referred segment.
 The frame containing the page table is located.
 
Step-03:
 For the generated page number, corresponding entry is located in the page table.
 Page table provides the frame number of the frame storing the required page of the
referred segment.
 The frame containing the required page is located.
 
Step-04:
 The frame number combined with page offset forms the required physical address.
 For the generated page offset, corresponding word is located in the page and read.
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Diagram-The following diagram illustrates the above steps of translating logical address
into physical address-
 

 Advantages-
1. It reduces memory usage.
2. Page table size is limited by the segment size.
3. Segment table has only one entry corresponding to one actual segment.
4. External Fragmentation is not there.
5. It simplifies memory allocation.

Disadvantages-
1. Internal Fragmentation will be there.
2. The complexity level will be much higher as compare to paging.
3. Page Tables need to be contiguously stored in the memory.

1.10 Explain Bakery Algorithm OR Multiple process solution (APR’15)

The Bakery algorithm is one of the simplest known solutions to the mutual exclusion
problem for the general case of N process. Bakery Algorithm is a critical section
solution for N processes. The algorithm preserves the first come first serve property.
 Before entering its critical section, the process receives a number. Holder of the
smallest number enters the critical section.
 If processes Pi and Pj receive the same number,
if i< j
Pi is served first;
else
Pj is served first.
 The numbering scheme always generates numbers in increasing order of
enumeration; i.e., 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, …

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Notation – lexicographical order (ticket #, process id #) – Firstly the ticket number is

compared. If same then the process ID is compared next, i.e.-

– (a, b) < (c, d) if a < c or if a = c and b < d

– max(a [0], . . ., a [n-1]) is a number, k, such that k >= a[i] for i = 0, . . ., n - 1

Shared data – choosing is an array [0..n – 1] of boolean values; & number is an array
[0..n – 1] of integer values. Both are initialized to False & Zero respectively.

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Algorithm Pseudocode –

repeat
choosing[i] := true;
number[i] := max(number[0], number[1], ..., number[n - 1])+1;
choosing[i] := false;
for j := 0 to n - 1
do begin
while choosing[j] do no-op;
while number[j] != 0
and (number[j], j) < (number[i], i) do no-op;
end;

critical section
number[i] := 0;
remainder section
until false;

 Firstly the process sets its “choosing” variable to be TRUE indicating its intent to
enter critical section.
 Then it gets assigned the highest ticket number corresponding to other processes.
 Then the “choosing” variable is set to FALSE indicating that it now has a new
ticket number.
 The very purpose of the first three lines is that if a process is modifying its
TICKET value then at that time some other process should not be allowed to
check its old ticket value which is now obsolete.
 Inside the for loop before checking ticket value we first make sure that all
other processes have the “choosing” variable as FALSE.
 After that we proceed to check the ticket values of processes where process with
least ticket number/process id gets inside the critical section.
 The exit section just resets the ticket value to zero.

PART [ 11 Marks]

2.1 What is critical section problem and explain two process solution and multiple
process solutions? (APR’15) -
What is critical section problem? How will you find the solution for it? [May 2018]
Refer Questions 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5

2.2 Specify the purpose of Semaphores and its types with an example (APR’16)
[Also Refer Questions 1.7 and 1.5]
What is binary semaphore? How will you implement it?[5] [May 2018]

 Semaphore is simply a variable that is non-negative and shared between threads

which is used to solve the problem of the critical section in process synchronization.
 A semaphore is a signalling mechanism, and a thread that is waiting on a semaphore
can be signalled by another thread. It uses two atomic operations, 1) wait, and 2) signal
for the process synchronization.

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 The definitions of wait and signal are as follows:

Wait: – In wait operation, the argument ‘S’ value is decrement by 1 if the value of the ‘S’
variable is positive. If the value of the argument variable ‘S’ is zero or negative, no
operation is performed.

Signal: – In Signal atomic operation, the value of the argument variable ‘S’ is
incremented.

Characteristics of Semaphore
1. It is a mechanism that can be used to provide synchronization of tasks.
2. It is a low-level synchronization mechanism.
3. Semaphore will always hold a non-negative integer value.
4. Semaphore can be implemented using test operations and interrupts, which should
be executed using file descriptors.

Types of Semaphores
1. Counting Semaphores: – Counting Semaphore is defined as a semaphore that
contains integer values, and these values have an unrestricted value domain. A
counting semaphore is helpful to coordinate the resource access, which includes
multiple instances.

If the initial count = 0, the counting semaphore should be created in the

unavailable state. However, If the count is > 0, the semaphore is created in the
available state, and the number of tokens it has equals to its count.

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2. Binary Semaphores: – Binary Semaphores are also called Mutex lock. There are
two values of binary semaphores, which are 0 and 1. The value of binary
semaphore is initialized to 1. We use binary semaphore to remove the problem of
the critical section with numerous processes.

In this type of semaphore, the wait operation works only if semaphore = 1, and the
signal operation succeeds when semaphore= 0. It is easy to implement than
counting semaphores.

Example of Semaphore
Shared var mutex: semaphore = 1;
Process i
begin
.
.
P(mutex);
execute CS;
V(mutex);
.
.
End;

Advantages of Semaphore
1. It allows more than one thread to access the critical section
2. Semaphores are machine-independent.
3. Semaphores are implemented in the machine-independent code of the microkernel.
4. They do not allow multiple processes to enter the critical section.
5. As there is busy waiting in semaphore, there is never a wastage of process time and
resources.
6. They are machine-independent, which should be run in the machine-independent code
of the microkernel.
7. They allow flexible management of resources.

Disadvantages of Semaphore
1. One of the biggest limitations of a semaphore is priority inversion.
2. The operating system has to keep track of all calls to wait and signal semaphore.
3. Their use is never enforced, but it is by convention only.
4. In order to avoid deadlocks in semaphore, the Wait and Signal operations require to be
executed in the correct order.
5. Semaphore programming is a complicated, so there are chances of not achieving
mutual exclusion.
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6. It is also not a practical method for large scale use as their use leads to loss of
modularity.
7. Semaphore is more prone to programmer error.
8. It may cause deadlock or violation of mutual exclusion due to programmer error.

2.4 Explain in detail about the threading issues (APR’15)

Thread is an execution unit which consists of its own program counter, a stack, and a set
of registers. Threads are also known as Lightweight processes. Threads are popular way to
improve application through parallelism. The CPU switches rapidly back and forth among
the threads giving illusion that the threads are running in parallel.

As each thread has its own independent resource for process execution, multiple processes
can be executed parallely by increasing number of threads.

Types of Thread
User threads, are above the kernel and without kernel support. These are the threads that
application programmers use in their programs.
Kernel threads are supported within the kernel of the OS itself. All modern OSs support
kernel level threads, allowing the kernel to perform multiple simultaneous tasks and/or to
service multiple kernel system calls simultaneously.

Threading Issues :Following threading issues are:

 The fork() and exec() system call
 Signal handling
 Thread cancelation
 Thread local storage
 Scheduler activation

The fork() and exec() system call

In case if a thread fork is the complete process copied or is the new process single
threaded?  The answer is here it depends on the system and in case of if new process execs
immediately then there is no need to copy all the other thread and if it does not create new
process then the whole process should be copied.

Signal Handling
Whenever a multithreaded process receives a signal then to what thread should that signal
be conveyed?  There are following four main option for signal distribution:
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1. Signal deliver to the thread to which the signal applies.

2. Signal deliver to each and every thread in the process.
3. Signal deliver to some of the threads in the process.
4. Assign a particular thread to receive all the signals in a process.
Thread Cancellation
Threads that are no-longer required can be cancelled by another thread in one of two
techniques:
1. Asynchronies cancellation
2. Deferred cancellation

Asynchronies Cancellation 
It means cancellation of thread immediately. Allocation of resources and inter
thread data transfer may be challenging for asynchronies cancellation.

Deferred Cancellation
In this method a flag is sets that indicating the thread should cancel itself when it is
feasible. It’s upon the cancelled thread to check this flag intermittently and exit
nicely when it sees the set flag.

Thread Local Storage

The benefit of using threads in the first place is that Most data is shared among the threads
but, sometimes threads also need thread explicit data. Major libraries of threads are
pThreads, Win32 and java which provide support for thread specific which is called as
TLS thread local storage.

Scheduler Activation
Numerous implementation of threads provides a virtual processor as an interface b/w user
and kernel thread specifically for two tier model. The virtual processor is called as low
weight process (LWP). Kernel thread and LWP has one-to-one correspondence. The
available numbers of kernel threads can be changed dynamically. The O.S is used to
schedule on to the real system.

2.5 Explain the scheduling criteria. With an example explain various CPU
Scheduling algorithms [Sep 2020]

CPU Scheduling is a process of determining which process will own CPU for execution
while another process is on hold. The main task of CPU scheduling is to make sure that
whenever the CPU remains idle, the OS at least select one of the processes available in the

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ready queue for execution. The selection process will be carried out by the CPU scheduler.
It selects one of the processes in memory that are ready for execution.

CPU Scheduling: Scheduling Criteria :There are many different criterias to check when
considering the "best" scheduling algorithm, they are:

 CPU Utilization
To make out the best use of CPU and not to waste any CPU cycle, CPU would be
working most of the time(Ideally 100% of the time). Considering a real system,
CPU usage should range from 40% (lightly loaded) to 90% (heavily loaded.)
 Throughput
It is the total number of processes completed per unit time or rather say total
amount of work done in a unit of time. This may range from 10/second to 1/hour
depending on the specific processes.
 Turnaround Time
It is the amount of time taken to execute a particular process, i.e. The interval from
time of submission of the process to the time of completion of the process(Wall
clock time).
 Waiting Time
The sum of the periods spent waiting in the ready queue amount of time a process
has been waiting in the ready queue to acquire get control on the CPU.
 Load Average
It is the average number of processes residing in the ready queue waiting for their
turn to get into the CPU.
 Response Time
Amount of time it takes from when a request was submitted until the first response
is produced. Remember, it is the time till the first response and not the completion
of process execution(final response).
 In general CPU utilization and Throughput are maximized and other factors are
reduced for proper optimization.

Types of CPU Scheduling - Here are two kinds of Scheduling methods:

Preemptive Scheduling
 In Preemptive Scheduling, the tasks are mostly assigned with their priorities.
Sometimes it is important to run a task with a higher priority before another lower
priority task, even if the lower priority task is still running.
 The lower priority task holds for some time and resumes when the higher priority
task finishes its execution.
Non-Preemptive Scheduling

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 In this type of scheduling method, the CPU has been allocated to a specific
process. The process that keeps the CPU busy will release the CPU either by
switching context or terminating.
 It is the only method that can be used for various hardware platforms. That's
because it doesn't need special hardware (for example, a timer) like preemptive
scheduling.

Preemptive or Non-Preemptive Scheduling

To determine if scheduling is preemptive or non-preemptive, consider these four
parameters:
1. A process switches from the running to the waiting state.
2. Specific process switches from the running state to the ready state.
3. Specific process switches from the waiting state to the ready state.
4. Process finished its execution and terminated.
Only conditions 1 and 4 apply, the scheduling is called non- preemptive.
All other scheduling are preemptive.

Types of CPU scheduling Algorithm - There are mainly six types of process scheduling
algorithms
1. First Come First Serve (FCFS)
2. Shortest-Job-First (SJF) Scheduling
3. Shortest Remaining Time
4. Priority Scheduling
5. Round Robin Scheduling
6. Multilevel Queue Scheduling

First Come First Serve (FCFS)

 Jobs are executed on first come, first serve basis.
 It is a non-preemptive, pre-emptive scheduling algorithm.
 Easy to understand and implement.
 Its implementation is based on FIFO queue.
 Poor in performance as average wait time is high.

Wait time of each process is as follows −

Process Wait Time : Service Time -
Arrival Time
P0 0-0=0

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P1 5-1=4
P2 8-2=6
P3 16 - 3 = 13
Average Wait Time: (0+4+6+13) / 4 = 5.75

Shortest Job Next (SJN)

 This is also known as shortest job first, or SJF
 This is a non-preemptive, pre-emptive scheduling algorithm.
 Best approach to minimize waiting time.
 Easy to implement in Batch systems where required CPU time is known in
advance.
 Impossible to implement in interactive systems where required CPU time is not
known.
 The processer should know in advance how much time process will take.

Given: Table of processes, and their Arrival time, Execution time

Process Arrival Execution Time Service Time
Time
P0 0 5 0
P1 1 3 5
P2 2 8 14
P3 3 6 8

Waiting time of each process is as follows −

Process Waiting Time
P0 0-0=0
P1 5-1=4
P2 14 - 2 = 12
P3 8-3=5
Average Wait Time: (0 + 4 + 12 + 5)/4 = 21 / 4 = 5.25

Priority Based Scheduling

 Priority scheduling is a non-preemptive algorithm and one of the most common
scheduling algorithms in batch systems.
 Each process is assigned a priority. Process with highest priority is to be executed
first and so on.
 Processes with same priority are executed on first come first served basis.
 Priority can be decided based on memory requirements, time requirements or any
other resource requirement.

Given: Table of processes, and their Arrival time, Execution time, and priority. Here we
are considering 1 is the lowest priority.

Process Arrival Execution Priority Service Time

Time Time
P0 0 5 1 0
P1 1 3 2 11
P2 2 8 1 14
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P3 3 6 3 5

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Waiting time of each process is as follows −

Process Waiting Time
P0 0-0=0
P1 11 - 1 = 10
P2 14 - 2 = 12
P3 5-3=2
Average Wait Time: (0 + 10 + 12 + 2)/4 = 24 / 4 = 6

Shortest Remaining Time

 Shortest remaining time (SRT) is the preemptive version of the SJN algorithm.
 The processor is allocated to the job closest to completion but it can be preempted
by a newer ready job with shorter time to completion.
 Impossible to implement in interactive systems where required CPU time is not
known.
 It is often used in batch environments where short jobs need to give preference.

Round Robin Scheduling
 Round Robin is the preemptive process scheduling algorithm.
 Each process is provided a fix time to execute, it is called a quantum.
 Once a process is executed for a given time period, it is preempted and other
process executes for a given time period.
 Context switching is used to save states of preempted processes.

Wait time of each process is as follows –

Process Wait Time : Service Time - Arrival Time

P0 (0 - 0) + (12 - 3) = 9
P1 (3 - 1) = 2
P2 (6 - 2) + (14 - 9) + (20 - 17) = 12
P3 (9 - 3) + (17 - 12) = 11
Average Wait Time: (9+2+12+11) / 4 = 8.5

Multiple-Level Queues Scheduling

Multiple-level queues are not an independent scheduling algorithm. They make use of
other existing algorithms to group and schedule jobs with common characteristics.
 Multiple queues are maintained for processes with common characteristics.
 Each queue can have its own scheduling algorithms.
 Priorities are assigned to each queue.

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For example, CPU-bound jobs can be scheduled in one queue and all I/O-bound jobs in
another queue. The Process Scheduler then alternately selects jobs from each queue and
assigns them to the CPU based on the algorithm assigned to the queue.

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