Process and Process States
Have you ever executed a process? Have your process changed states? In this post, we
going to cover the notion of a process and process states. We will understand: what is a
process? How to convert your program into a process? What are the different states of a
process? and Where all the information related to a process is stored?
What is a Process?
After you write a program in any language, two steps follow:
1. Compiling
2. Running/Executing
The second step is what makes that program a process. You double-click any software in
your computer system or you tap on any application your mobile or you write a
command like $./a.out, all these convert the application(program) into a process. Every
application is a program until you execute it by double click or a tap or a command, after
which it becomes a process.
So, a process is a program in execution
Now, once you initiate a process, the operating system loads it into the memory (RAM).
Inside the RAM the structure of the process looks like as shown below:
1. Text – program code
2. Data – contains global variables
3. Stack – contains temporary data
function parameters
return addresses
Local variables
4. Heap – memory allocated dynamically during run time
The text section contains the program or the code, the data section contains the global
variables. These two sections have fixed size because neither the code is going to change
nor the variables used in the program. Heap is used for dynamic memory allocation.
Now, we use dynamic memory allocation when we can not determine the memory
required. Hence the heap section can grow in size if required.
Lastly, the stack section is used for functions. Again, the size of this section is also
variable. Because it is difficult to determine the number of function calls required.
Consider a program for factorial calculation which uses recursive functions. If the number
is 5 then the function call is 5 times. If the number for factorial is 20, then the function
call is 20 times. So the system does not know what exactly will be the stack size. Hence,
the stack size is variable.
Points to Remember
Program: is a passive entity
Process: is a active entity
Question?
Q1.Can two processes be associated with the same program?
Answer:
Process States
A process can change its state during its lifetime. The various states of a process are:
1. New – when a process is created
2. Ready – when the process is in the RAM and is waiting for CPU allocation.
3. Running – the process gets the CPU and is executing in this state
4. Waiting – the process is waiting for some I/O device
5. Terminated – the process finishes its execution either normally or forcefully
Process Control Box(PCB)
Sometimes a running process changes its state to waiting or ready and then back to
running. In this case all the related information of a process needs to saved so that it can
be later loaded when the process starts to execute again. This information is saved
in Process Control Box(PCB). Another name pf PCB is Task Control Box. The most
common information stored is:
Process state
Program counter
CPU registers
CPU scheduling information
Memory-management information
Accounting information
I/O status information
State Diagram
The process, from its creation to completion, passes through various states. The
minimum number of states is five.
The names of the states are not standardized although the process may be in one of
the following states during execution.
1. New
A program which is going to be picked up by the OS into the main memory is called
a new process.
2. Ready
Whenever a process is created, it directly enters in the ready state, in which, it waits
for the CPU to be assigned. The OS picks the new processes from the secondary
memory and put all of them in the main memory.
The processes which are ready for the execution and reside in the main memory are
called ready state processes. There can be many processes present in the ready state.
3. Running
One of the processes from the ready state will be chosen by the OS depending upon
the scheduling algorithm. Hence, if we have only one CPU in our system, the number
of running processes for a particular time will always be one. If we have n processors
in the system then we can have n processes running simultaneously.
4. Block or wait
From the Running state, a process can make the transition to the block or wait state
depending upon the scheduling algorithm or the intrinsic behavior of the process.
When a process waits for a certain resource to be assigned or for the input from the
user then the OS move this process to the block or wait state and assigns the CPU to
the other processes.
5. Completion or termination
When a process finishes its execution, it comes in the termination state. All the
context of the process (Process Control Block) will also be deleted the process will be
terminated by the Operating system.
Suspend ready
A process in the ready state, which is moved to secondary memory from the main memory
due to lack of the resources (mainly primary memory) is called in the suspend ready state.
If the main memory is full and a higher priority process comes for the execution then the OS
have to make the room for the process in the main memory by throwing the lower priority
process out into the secondary memory. The suspend ready processes remain in the secondary
memory until the main memory gets available.
Suspend wait
Instead of removing the process from the ready queue, it's better to remove the blocked
process which is waiting for some resources in the main memory. Since it is already waiting
for some resource to get available hence it is better if it waits in the secondary memory and
make room for the higher priority process. These processes complete their execution once the
main memory gets available and their wait is finished.
