What is context switching in an OS?
Hi Alex,
Context switching in an OS is the process of saving the state of a running process and loading the state of another process.
This allows multitasking by enabling the CPU to switch between multiple processes efficiently.
It involves storing registers, program counters, and memory states to resume execution later.
Read more:
Context switching is what makes multitasking possible in an OS. When multiple processes run, the CPU quickly switches between them by saving and restoring their states.
While this ensures smooth execution, excessive switching can lead to performance overhead. Want to dive deeper into how it works?
Ever wondered how your OS juggles multiple applications at once? That’s where context switching comes in! It allows the CPU to pause one process, store its state, and resume another seamlessly. However, frequent switching can slow things down due to the extra processing involved.