Which combination of the following features will suffice to characterize an OS…
2002
Which combination of the following features will suffice to characterize an OS as a multiprogrammed OS? (a) More than one program may be loaded into main memory at the same time for execution. (b) If a program waits for an event such as I/O, another program is scheduled for execution. (c) If a program terminates, another program is scheduled for execution.
- A.
a only
- B.
a and b
- C.
a and c
- D.
a, b and c
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Correct answer: B
A multiprogrammed operating system keeps more than one program in main memory so that the CPU has another ready program available. Its key behavior is that when the currently running program waits for an event such as I/O, the OS schedules another program, improving CPU utilization. Statement (c) describes moving to another program after termination, which can also occur in simple batch processing and is not sufficient to characterize multiprogramming. Therefore, statements (a) and (b) are sufficient.