Introduction to Process API
This lesson gives a brief introduction to the chapter and its contents.
In this interlude, we discuss process creation in UNIX systems. UNIX presents one of the most intriguing ways to create a new process with a pair of system calls: fork() and exec(). A third routine, wait(), can be used by a process wishing to wait for a process it has created to complete. We now present these interfaces in more detail, with a few simple examples to motivate us. And thus, our problem:
CRUX: HOW TO CREATE AND CONTROL PROCESSES
What interfaces should the OS present for process creation and control? How should these interfaces be designed to enable powerful functionality, ease of use, and high performance?
ASIDE: INTERLUDES
Interludes will cover more practical aspects of systems, including a particular focus on operating system APIs and how to use them. If you don’t like practical things, you could skip these interludes. But you should like practical things, because, well, they are generally useful in real life; companies, for example, don’t usually hire you for your non-practical skills.
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