Process

Previous: Operating system

A process is possibly the most fundamental abstraction provided by the operating system. At its most basic level a process is simply a program that is being executed by CPU. Each process is given its own virtual address space which is its own abstraction for memory.

Process states

A process can be in one of three primary states:

• Running: Actively having instructions executed by the CPU
• Ready: Waiting for the CPU
• Blocked: The process has initiated some operation which prevents it from being able to execute further instructions.

A scheduler can move a process between the running and ready states.