Question:

a) Each process is represented in the operating system by a process control block (PCB). The PCB contains many pieces of information associated with a specific process. List and describe four pieces of information that can be found in a PCB.

b) Differentiate between an independent process and a cooperating process.

c) List the advantages of process cooperation.

d) i. Briefly describe the producer-consumer problem within the concept of cooperating processes.

ii. To allow producer and consumer processes to run concurrently, there must be a buffer for holding items. The buffer can be filled by the producer and emptied by the consumer, and there are two types of buffer available for this purpose. Describe these two types of buffer.