Question

Discuss some factors that must be considered in determining the process maximum capacity in a multiprogramming environment.

Answer 1

In a multiprogramming-capable system, jobs to be executed are loaded into a pool. Some number of those jobs are loaded into main memory, and one is selected from the pool for execution by the CPU. If at some point the program in progress terminates or requires the services of a peripheral device, the control of the CPU is given to the next job in the pool.

An important concept in multiprogramming is the degree of multiprogramming. The degree of multiprogramming describes the maximum number of processes that a single-processor system can accommodate efficiently.

These are some of the factors affecting the degree of multiprogramming:

• The primary factor is the amount of memory available to be allocated to executing processes. If the amount of memory is too limited, the degree of multiprogramming will be limited because fewer processes will fit in memory.
• Operating system - The means by which resources are allocated to processes. If the operating system can not allocate resources to executing processes in a fair and orderly fashion, the system will waste time in reallocation, or process execution could enter into a deadlock state as programs wait for allocated resources to be freed by other blocked processes.
• Other factors affecting the degree of multiprogramming are program I/O needs, program CPU needs, and memory and disk access speed.

In other words, It is the number of processes a CPU can handle efficiently handle simultaneously.