Essay on Which Way to Go: Multitasking vs. Multithreading

Multitasking is the ability to execute more than one task or program at the same time. In multitasking, only one CPU is involved, but it switches from one program to another so quickly that it gives the appearance of executing all of the programs at the same time. Multithreading is the ability of an operating system to execute different parts of a program, called threads, simultaneously. Multithreading usually involves very sophisticated programs that use multiple CPUs at the same time to improve speed and output. A computer that has multiple CPUs but does not have applications written specifically to use multiprocessing or multithreading uses just one CPU.( Larry Rudolph and D.G. Feitelson (2004))
The earliest computers did one thing at a time. A lab computer might calculate detonation waves for one of the physicists. Next it would calculate mixing ratios for a chemist. All programs were run sequentially, one at a time; and each had full run of the computer. However two programs couldn't be run at once. This is called batch processing, and it's a very efficient way to get maximum usage out of a very expensive computer because almost all the computer's time is spent actually calculating jobs and not switching between one program and another. However batch processing can be very annoying when your differential equation integration program that would take all of two seconds of CPU time gets stuck in line behind the physics department's nuclear structure modeling project that's going run for the next three days. (Larry Rudolph and D.G. Feitelson (2004))

Time sharing operating systems were invented to allow multiple people to use one then very expensive computer at the same time. On a time sharing system many people can run programs at the same time. The operating system is responsible for splitting the time among the different programs that are running..........................

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ESSAYS ON TECHNOLOGY