Chapter -3 Process Description and Control

What Is a Process?
Is the instance of a computer program that is being executed by one or many threads.
Process Control Blocks (PCB): Is data structure used by computer operating systems to
store all the information about a process.
A Five-State Model
1. Running: The process that is currently being executed.
2. Ready: A process that is prepared to execute when given the opportunity.
3. Blocked/Waiting: A process that cannot execute until some event occurs, such as the
completion of an I/O operation.
4. New: A process that has just been created but has not yet been admitted to the pool of
executable processes by the OS.
5. Exit: A process that has been released from the pool of executable processes by the OS,
Suspended Processes: is one that is turned off, the process is existing, but it doesn’t yet
schedule for excution.
List five major functions of an os
 It manages hardware
 Runs application
 Provides an interface for the user
 Stores and retrieves
 Manipulates files

Memory tables: are used to keep track of both main (real) and secondary (virtual) memory.
I/O tables: are used by the OS to manage the I/O devices and channels of the computer system.
File tables. These tables provide information about the existence of files, their location on
secondary memory, their current status, and other attributes.
Process tables: to manage processes.
Process of Creation
 Assign a unique process identifier to the new process.
 Allocate space for the process.
 Initialize the process control block.
  Set the appropriate linkages.
 Create or expand other data structures.

Modes of Execution
User mode:
System mode:
Control mode:
Kernel mode:
UNIX Process States User
User Running
Kernel Running
Ready to Run, in Memory
Asleep in Memory
Ready to Run, Swapped
Sleeping, Swapped
Preempted
Created
Zombie