Features of Multi-Tasking Operating System
- Time Sharing – In this, many processes are allocated with resources of computer in respective time slots, processors time is shared with multiple processes.
- Context Switching – context switching is a process of saving the context of one process and loading the context of another process. In simpler terms it is loading another process when the prior process has finished its execution.
- Multi-Threading – Multithreading is the ability of a program or an operating system to enable more than one user at a time without requiring multiple copies of the program running on the computer.
- Hardware Interrupt – When a process or an event requires urgent attention, hardware or software will signal with an interrupt. It informs the processor that a high-priority task has arisen that necessitates interrupting the running process.
Multitasking Operating System
Single tasking Operating system was used before the multitasking operating system. single tasking operating system allows user to perform a single task at a time. So tasks like printing a document or downloading an image from the internet can be done one after another, leading to wastage of resources which makes the operating system relatively slow and gives a bad user experience. So keeping this in mind Multi-Tasking Operating Systems were introduced that allow users to run multiple programs simultaneously thus making the computer far more efficient and user friendly. A user can download the image from the internet as well as listen to music or can surf the internet while downloading the image all at the same time.