Operating system internals questions that might come up in a C++ interview:
- Explain the concept of a process and a thread. How do they differ?
- What is the difference between user-level threads and kernel-level threads?
- How does multitasking work in an operating system?
- What is a context switch? How does the operating system handle context switching?
- Explain the concept of a mutex. How does it help in achieving thread synchronization?
- What are semaphores and how do they differ from mutexes?
- Describe the producer-consumer problem. How can you solve it using synchronization primitives like semaphores or mutexes?
- What is a deadlock? How can it occur in a multithreaded program?
- Explain the concept of virtual memory. How does it improve the efficiency of memory management?
- What is a page fault? How is it handled by the operating system?
- How does an operating system manage file systems? What are inodes and how do they relate to file management?
- What is a process control block (PCB)? What information does it contain?
- Explain the difference between a fork() system call and exec() system call.
- What are system calls? How do they bridge the gap between user-level applications and the kernel?
- Discuss the role of the File Descriptor (FD) in I/O operations.
- How does the operating system manage memory allocation for processes?
- Explain the concepts of demand paging and page replacement algorithms. Give examples of such algorithms.
- What is the role of the "init" process in Unix-like operating systems?
- Discuss the concept of signals in Unix-like operating systems. How are they used for process communication and management?
- Explain the concept of a trap or exception in the context of operating systems.
- What is a kernel? How does it differ from an operating system?
- Explain the concept of process scheduling. What scheduling algorithms have you come across?
- How does the C++ standard library provide support for multithreading?
- Discuss the concept of thread-local storage (TLS) and its significance in multithreaded programming.
- What is a race condition? How can you prevent or mitigate race conditions in a multithreaded environment?
- Explain the concept of I/O multiplexing. How can you achieve it using tools like select(), poll(), or epoll()?
- Discuss the differences between synchronous and asynchronous I/O operations.
- Explain the role of the "fork and exec" mechanism in creating new processes. How does it work?
- What is a zombie process? How does the operating system handle it?
- Describe the concept of memory-mapped files. How can they be used for efficient file I/O?
- Explain the purpose of the "nice" value in process scheduling.
- What is the purpose of a system call like "wait()" or "waitpid()"?
- Discuss the concept of user space and kernel space. How does the operating system manage the separation between them?
- Explain the working principle of the "malloc()" and "free()" functions in C/C++ in relation to memory allocation.
- What is the purpose of the "chroot" system call?
- Discuss the concept of process groups and their significance.
- Explain the purpose of the "umask" command in Unix-like systems.
- How does the C++ exception handling mechanism interact with the operating system's exception handling?
- Discuss the concept of CPU scheduling algorithms. What are their goals and how do they differ?
- Explain the concept of a system daemon in Unix-like operating systems.
- What is a kernel? How does it differ from an operating system?
- Explain the concept of process scheduling. What scheduling algorithms have you come across?
- How does the C++ standard library provide support for multithreading?
- Discuss the concept of thread-local storage (TLS) and its significance in multithreaded programming.
- What is a race condition? How can you prevent or mitigate race conditions in a multithreaded environment?
- Explain the concept of I/O multiplexing. How can you achieve it using tools like select(), poll(), or epoll()?
- Discuss the differences between synchronous and asynchronous I/O operations.
- Explain the role of the "fork and exec" mechanism in creating new processes. How does it work?
- What is a zombie process? How does the operating system handle it?
- Describe the concept of memory-mapped files. How can they be used for efficient file I/O?
- Explain the purpose of the "nice" value in process scheduling.
- What is the purpose of a system call like "wait()" or "waitpid()"?
- Discuss the concept of user space and kernel space. How does the operating system manage the separation between them?
- Explain the working principle of the "malloc()" and "free()" functions in C/C++ in relation to memory allocation.
- What is the purpose of the "chroot" system call?
- Discuss the concept of process groups and their significance.
- Explain the purpose of the "umask" command in Unix-like systems.
- How does the C++ exception handling mechanism interact with the operating system's exception handling?
- Discuss the concept of CPU scheduling algorithms. What are their goals and how do they differ?
- Explain the concept of a system daemon in Unix-like operating systems.
