Operating System Questions
A context switch is the process of saving and restoring the state of a process or thread in a computer system, so that multiple processes or threads can share a single CPU (Central Processing Unit). It occurs when the operating system interrupts the currently running process or thread and switches to another process or thread, allowing it to run. Context switches can occur due to various reasons, such as when a higher priority process becomes ready to run, when a process voluntarily yields the CPU, or when a process is interrupted by an external event or an interrupt.