Megszakításkezelés

Megszakításkezelés, or interrupt handling, is a fundamental concept in computer operating systems and embedded systems. It refers to the mechanism by which a computer's hardware or software signals to the processor that an event requiring immediate attention has occurred. This event, known as an interrupt, could be anything from a device signaling that it has finished a task (like a disk drive reading data) to an error condition or a timer expiring.

When an interrupt occurs, the processor temporarily suspends its current execution of instructions. It then saves the current state of the processor, including the program counter and register values, onto a stack. This ensures that the interrupted program can be resumed later from exactly where it left off. The processor then identifies the source of the interrupt and jumps to a specific piece of code called an interrupt service routine (ISR), also known as an interrupt handler.

The ISR's task is to deal with the event that caused the interrupt. This might involve reading data from a device, updating system status, or clearing an error flag. Once the ISR has completed its work, it restores the saved processor state from the stack and resumes the execution of the interrupted program. This process allows the system to respond efficiently to external events without constantly polling devices, thus improving performance and responsiveness. In multitasking operating systems, interrupt handling is crucial for switching between different processes and managing the execution flow.