Folyamatmeghívás

Folyamatmeghívás, often translated as process invocation or process call, refers to the mechanism by which one running process initiates the execution of another process. This is a fundamental concept in operating systems and concurrent programming. When a process invokes another, it essentially asks the operating system to create and start a new process. The original process, known as the parent process, can either wait for the child process to complete its execution before continuing (a synchronous call) or continue its own operations independently while the child process runs (an asynchronous call).

The most common way to achieve folyamatmeghívás on Unix-like systems is through the fork() and exec() system calls. The fork() system call creates a near-identical copy of the calling process. The exec() family of system calls then replaces the current process image with a new program. Together, fork() and exec() allow a parent process to spawn a child process that executes a different program. Other operating systems and programming environments may offer different abstractions for process invocation, but the underlying principle of transferring control and resources remains the same.

The use of folyamatmeghívás is crucial for modularity, allowing complex tasks to be broken down into smaller, manageable programs. It is also essential for multitasking, enabling the operating system to run multiple applications concurrently. Understanding process invocation is key to comprehending how operating systems manage resources and how applications interact with each other and the system.