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unit 2 operating system

A process is an executing instance of a program, which can be divided into four sections: text, stack, data, and heap. Processes go through various states such as NEW, READY, RUNNING, WAITING, and TERMINATED, and are managed by a Process Control Block (PCB) that contains essential information for tracking the process. Each process is assigned a unique Process ID (PID) in Unix-like operating systems, and the operating system maps logical addresses to physical addresses during memory allocation.

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4 views43 pages

unit 2 operating system

A process is an executing instance of a program, which can be divided into four sections: text, stack, data, and heap. Processes go through various states such as NEW, READY, RUNNING, WAITING, and TERMINATED, and are managed by a Process Control Block (PCB) that contains essential information for tracking the process. Each process is assigned a unique Process ID (PID) in Unix-like operating systems, and the operating system maps logical addresses to physical addresses during memory allocation.

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Akhilesh kumar
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Process Concept

Program vs. Process


A process is a program in execution. For example, when we write a program in
C or C++ and compile it, the compiler creates binary code. The original code
and binary code are both programs. When we actually run the binary code, it
becomes a process.
A process is an ‘active’ entity, as opposed to a program, which is considered to
be a ‘passive’ entity. A single program can create many processes when run
multiple times; for example, when we open a .exe or binary file multiple times,
multiple instances begin (multiple processes are created).

Process in memory
When a program is loaded into the memory and it becomes a process, it can be
divided into four sections ─ stack, heap, text and data. The following image
shows a simplified layout of a process inside main memory −

 Text Section: A Process, sometimes known as the Text Section, also


includes the current activity represented by the value of the Program
Counter.
 Stack: The Stack contains the temporary data, such as function
parameters, returns addresses, and local variables.
 Data Section: Contains the global variable.
 Heap Section: Dynamically allocated memory to process during its run
time.

Process Life Cycle or Process states

When a process executes, it passes through different states. These stages may
differ in different operating systems, and the names of these states are also not
standardized.

 NEW- The process is being created.


 READY- The process is waiting to be assigned to a processor.

 RUNNING- Instructions are being executed.

 WAITING- The process is waiting for some event to occur (such as an I/


O completion or reception of a signal).

 TERMINATED- The process has finished execution.


Process Control Block (PCB) or Task control block

A Process Control Block is a data structure maintained by the Operating System


for every process. The PCB is identified by an integer process ID (PID). A PCB
keeps all the information needed to keep track of a process as listed below:

 Process State: It can be running, waiting etc.


 Process ID and the parent process ID.

 CPU registers and Program Counter. Program Counter holds the


address of the next instruction to be executed for that process.

 CPU Scheduling information: Such as priority information and pointers


to scheduling queues.

 Memory Management information: For example, page tables or


segment tables.

 Accounting information: The User and kernel CPU time consumed,


account numbers, limits, etc.

 I/O Status information: Devices allocated, open file tables, etc.


 All of the above attributes of a process are also known as the context of
the process.

 The architecture of a PCB is completely dependent on Operating System


and may contain different information in different operating systems.

Process Address space


 An address space is a range of valid addresses in memory that are
available for a program or process. That is, it is the memory that a
program or process can access. The memory can be either physical or
virtual and is used for executing instructions and storing data.

 The process address space is the set of logical addresses that a process
references in its code. For example, when 32-bit addressing is in use,
addresses can range from 0 to 0x7fffffff; that is, 2^31 possible numbers,
for a total theoretical size of 2 gigabytes.

The operating system takes care of mapping the logical addresses to physical
addresses at the time of memory allocation to the program. There are three
types of addresses used in a program before and after memory is allocated :

 Symbolic addresses

The addresses used in a source code. The variable names, constants, and
instruction labels are the basic elements of the symbolic address space.

 Relative addresses

At the time of compilation, a compiler converts symbolic addresses into


relative addresses.

 Physical addresses

The loader generates these addresses at the time when a program is loaded
into main memory.
The set of all logical addresses generated by a program is referred to as
a logical address space. The set of all physical addresses corresponding to
these logical addresses is referred to as a physical address space.

Process Identification Information


A PID (i.e., process identification number) is an identification number that is
automatically assigned to each process when it is created on a Unix-
like operating system. A process is an executing (i.e., running) instance of a
program. Each process is guaranteed a unique PID, which is always a non-
negative integer.
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