Question 55 - CITM-001 discussion

Multiprocessing is a feature that supports more than one processor in a computer system.It allows multiple processes to run concurrently on multiple CPUs (or cores), thus increasing the performance and throughput of the system12.Multiprocessing can be achieved by using either multiple physical processors or a single processor with multiple cores3.Multiprocessing can also be classified into symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP), depending on how the processors are coordinated and share resources4.

Multiprocessing is different from other features such as multiprogramming, multitasking, and multithreading.Multiprogramming is the ability of an operating system to keep multiple programs in the main memory at the same time, ready for execution5.Multitasking is the ability of an operating system to switch between multiple tasks (applications) on a single CPU, giving the illusion of parallelism6.Multithreading is the ability of an application to create multiple threads of execution within a single task, sharing the same memory space and resources7.These features aim to maximize the utilization of CPU and memory, but they do not require more than one processor.Reference:1: CITM Study Guide, Chapter 2: Computer Architecture, Page 24-25.2:Multiprocessing3:What is Multiprocessing?4:Symmetric vs. Asymmetric Multiprocessing: What's the Difference?5: CITM Study Guide, Chapter 1: Operating Systems, Page 9.6: CITM Study Guide, Chapter 1: Operating Systems, Page 10.7: CITM Study Guide, Chapter 4: Object-Oriented Analysis and Design, Page 64.