Operating system internals questions that might come up in a C++ interview:

Operating system internals questions that might come up in a C++ interview: 

1. Explain the concept of a process and a thread. How do they differ?
2. What is the difference between user-level threads and kernel-level threads?
3. How does multitasking work in an operating system?
4. What is a context switch? How does the operating system handle context switching?
5. Explain the concept of a mutex. How does it help in achieving thread synchronization?
6. What are semaphores and how do they differ from mutexes?
7. Describe the producer-consumer problem. How can you solve it using synchronization primitives like semaphores or mutexes?
8. What is a deadlock? How can it occur in a multithreaded program?
9. Explain the concept of virtual memory. How does it improve the efficiency of memory management?
10. What is a page fault? How is it handled by the operating system?
11. How does an operating system manage file systems? What are inodes and how do they relate to file management?
12. What is a process control block (PCB)? What information does it contain?
13. Explain the difference between a fork() system call and exec() system call.
14. What are system calls? How do they bridge the gap between user-level applications and the kernel?
15. Discuss the role of the File Descriptor (FD) in I/O operations.
16. How does the operating system manage memory allocation for processes?
17. Explain the concepts of demand paging and page replacement algorithms. Give examples of such algorithms.
18. What is the role of the "init" process in Unix-like operating systems?
19. Discuss the concept of signals in Unix-like operating systems. How are they used for process communication and management?
20. Explain the concept of a trap or exception in the context of operating systems.
21. What is a kernel? How does it differ from an operating system?
22. Explain the concept of process scheduling. What scheduling algorithms have you come across?
23. How does the C++ standard library provide support for multithreading?
24. Discuss the concept of thread-local storage (TLS) and its significance in multithreaded programming.
25. What is a race condition? How can you prevent or mitigate race conditions in a multithreaded environment?
26. Explain the concept of I/O multiplexing. How can you achieve it using tools like select(), poll(), or epoll()?
27. Discuss the differences between synchronous and asynchronous I/O operations.
28. Explain the role of the "fork and exec" mechanism in creating new processes. How does it work?
29. What is a zombie process? How does the operating system handle it?
30. Describe the concept of memory-mapped files. How can they be used for efficient file I/O?
31. Explain the purpose of the "nice" value in process scheduling.
32. What is the purpose of a system call like "wait()" or "waitpid()"?
33. Discuss the concept of user space and kernel space. How does the operating system manage the separation between them?
34. Explain the working principle of the "malloc()" and "free()" functions in C/C++ in relation to memory allocation.
35. What is the purpose of the "chroot" system call?
36. Discuss the concept of process groups and their significance.
37. Explain the purpose of the "umask" command in Unix-like systems.
38. How does the C++ exception handling mechanism interact with the operating system's exception handling?
39. Discuss the concept of CPU scheduling algorithms. What are their goals and how do they differ?
40. Explain the concept of a system daemon in Unix-like operating systems.
41. What is a kernel? How does it differ from an operating system?
42. Explain the concept of process scheduling. What scheduling algorithms have you come across?
43. How does the C++ standard library provide support for multithreading?
44. Discuss the concept of thread-local storage (TLS) and its significance in multithreaded programming.
45. What is a race condition? How can you prevent or mitigate race conditions in a multithreaded environment?
46. Explain the concept of I/O multiplexing. How can you achieve it using tools like select(), poll(), or epoll()?
47. Discuss the differences between synchronous and asynchronous I/O operations.
48. Explain the role of the "fork and exec" mechanism in creating new processes. How does it work?
49. What is a zombie process? How does the operating system handle it?
50. Describe the concept of memory-mapped files. How can they be used for efficient file I/O?
51. Explain the purpose of the "nice" value in process scheduling.
52. What is the purpose of a system call like "wait()" or "waitpid()"?
53. Discuss the concept of user space and kernel space. How does the operating system manage the separation between them?
54. Explain the working principle of the "malloc()" and "free()" functions in C/C++ in relation to memory allocation.
55. What is the purpose of the "chroot" system call?
56. Discuss the concept of process groups and their significance.
57. Explain the purpose of the "umask" command in Unix-like systems.
58. How does the C++ exception handling mechanism interact with the operating system's exception handling?
59. Discuss the concept of CPU scheduling algorithms. What are their goals and how do they differ?
60. Explain the concept of a system daemon in Unix-like operating systems.