essay
medium
Understand
process-definition
2 points
Question 18. CSCD240-E1-A
Define what a process is.
Work the drill
Answer on paper or in a terminal before revealing the ideal answer.
Ideal answer
An instance of a running program with its own memory space and file descriptors, a unique PID assigned by the kernel, and a scheduled state (running/sleeping/stopped/zombie).
Misconception bank
Each row below is a plausible wrong answer, the thinking that produces it, and the remedy that corrects the misconception. These are the foundation of the multiple-choice framing and the targeted feedback a student receives after answering.
A program
Misconception. A program is the on-disk executable; a process is an instance of one running.
Remedy. Clarify: Firefox is a program; an instance you launched is a process.
Something the CPU runs
Misconception. True but insufficient — misses PID, memory, kernel ownership.
Remedy. Provide the 4-part rubric: instance + resources + PID + state.
Authority mappings
Hover any chip for the mapping justification; click to open the authority record.
DCWF roles:
IT-451 System Administrator
DCWF tasks:
T0501
KU topics:
CD-OSC-T3
Course-artifact links
Lectures
- CSCD240-S26-L08. Pipes, filters, grep, sort, uniq, wc, tar
Lab questions
- CSCD240-S26-LAB6: Run ps, ps -ef, ps aux. Explain the difference.