Define each of the following terms.

Question

a) thread
b) multithreading
c) runnable state
d) timed waiting state
e) preemptive scheduling
f) Runnable interface
g) producer/consumer relationship
h) quantum

Answer 1

a) An individual execution context of a program.
b) The ability of more than one thread to execute concurrently.
c) A state in which the thread is capable of running (if the processor becomes available). ANS: d) A state in which the thread cannot use the processor because it is waiting for a time
interval to expire or a notification from another thread.
e) A thread of higher priority enters a running state and is assigned to the processor. The
thread preempted from the processor is placed back in the ready state according to its priority.
f) An interface that provides a run method. By implementing the Runnable interface, any class can be executed as a separate thread.
g( A relationship in which a producer and a consumer share common data. The produc- er typically wants to "produce" (add information) and the consumer wants to "con- sume" (remove information).
h) A small amount of processor time, also called a time slice.