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Process Synchronization in Operating Systems: Definition & Mechanisms

Chapter 4 /  Lesson 12   Transcript
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  • 0:04 Process Synchronization
  • 0:46 Critical Section
  • 1:21 Semaphores
  • 2:43 Lesson Summary
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Lesson Transcript
Instructor: Meghalee Goswami
This lesson describes process synchronization and explains how it is managed by the operating system. It also explains the synchronization mechanisms, such as wait() and signal(), as well as semaphores and race conditions.

Process Synchronization

Process Synchronization is a way to coordinate processes that use shared data. It occurs in an operating system among cooperating processes. Cooperating processes are processes that share resources. While executing many concurrent processes, process synchronization helps to maintain shared data consistency and cooperating process execution. Processes have to be scheduled to ensure that concurrent access to shared data does not create inconsistencies. Data inconsistency can result in what is called a race condition. A race condition occurs when two or more operations are executed at the same time, not scheduled in the proper sequence, and not exited in the critical section correctly.

Critical Section

A critical section is a segment of code that can be accessed by only one signal process at a certain instance in time. This section consists of shared data resources that need to be accessed by other processes. The entry to the critical section is handled by the wait() function, represented as P(). The exit from a critical section is controlled by the signal() function, represented as V(). Only one process can be executed inside the critical section at a time. Other processes waiting to execute their critical sections have to wait until the current process finishes executing its critical section.

Semaphores

A critical section execution is handled by a semaphore. A semaphore is simply a variable that stores an integer value. This integer can be accessed by two operations: wait() and signal(). When a process enters the critical section, P(s) is invoked and the semaphore s is set to 1. After the process exits the critical section, s is re-initialized to 0. An example of how Process P is executed inside the critical section is shown below:

//Some Code

P(s);

//critical section(cs)

//exit from cs

V(s);

//remaining code

Semaphores can be classified into two types:

  • Binary semaphore
  • Counting semaphore

A binary semaphore can only take two values: 0 and 1. These semaphores are also known as mutex locks and are used to ensure mutual exclusion. If the mutex semaphore s is initialized to 0, then other processes can access the critical section. Otherwise, they have to wait for the process inside the critical section (where s=1) to finish its execution and s is set to 0.

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You are viewing lesson Lesson 12 in chapter 4 of the course:

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Computer Science 305: Operating Systems

8 chapters | 72 lessons

Ch 4. Concurrency in Operating Systems
Ch 5. External Device...

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