4.4.3

Memory and Process Management

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Memory and Process Management

As with all hardware in the computer, the memory (RAM) and central processing unit (CPU) must be managed by a part of the operating system.

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Purpose of memory manager

  • The memory manager controls the allocation of random access memory (RAM) to each running process.
  • If the memory manager fails to manage memory well, then the computer will slow down and might crash.
Illustrative background for Purpose of process managerIllustrative background for Purpose of process manager ?? "content

Purpose of process manager

  • Modern operating systems allow users to run multiple programs at once.
  • In reality, a CPU can only execute one process at a time. So the CPU must switch between processes so quickly that it seems that they are running simultaneously.
Illustrative background for MultitaskingIllustrative background for Multitasking ?? "content

Multitasking

  • Modern operating systems allow multiple applications to run at once. This is known as multitasking.
  • For this to work, the operating system must manage how memory and CPU time is allocated to each running process.

Memory and Process Management

As with all hardware in the computer, the memory (RAM) and central processing unit (CPU) must be managed by a part of the operating system.

Illustrative background for Purpose of memory managerIllustrative background for Purpose of memory manager ?? "content

Purpose of memory manager

  • The memory manager controls the allocation of random access memory (RAM) to each running process.
  • If the memory manager fails to manage memory well, then the computer will slow down and might crash.
Illustrative background for Purpose of process managerIllustrative background for Purpose of process manager ?? "content

Purpose of process manager

  • Modern operating systems allow users to run multiple programs at once.
  • In reality, a CPU thread can only execute one process at a time. So the CPU must switch between processes so quickly that it seems that they are running simultaneously.
Illustrative background for Multi-taskingIllustrative background for Multi-tasking ?? "content

Multi-tasking

  • Modern operating systems allow multiple applications to run at once. This is known as multi-tasking.
  • For this to work, the operating system must manage how memory and CPU time is allocated to each running process.

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1Problem Solving

2Programming

3Data

4Computers

5Communication & The Internet

6The Bigger Picture

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