Difference between Preemptive and Cooperative Multitasking

Multitasking is one of the key features of present-day operating systems, by which many tasks or processes can be processed in parallel. It also improves throughput by controlling how activities can access the CPU. There are two main categories of multitasking: preemptive multitasking and cooperative multitasking. However, they both aimed towards enabling the management of many processes; there is a big difference in how they are able to handle and switch over the various processes. This article looks at the differences between preemptive multitasking and cooperative multitasking in detail. 

What is Preemptive Multitasking? 

In preemptive multitasking, the operating system can initiate a context switching from the running process to another process. In other words, the operating system allows stopping the execution of the currently running process and allocating the CPU to some other process. The OS uses some criteria to decide for how long a process should execute before allowing another process to use the operating system. The mechanism of taking control of the operating system from one process and giving it to another process is called preempting or preemption.

Advantages of Preemptive Multitasking

• Efficient CPU Usage: Guarantees that all processes receive a turn on the CPU even if they don’t want to relinquish it. 
• Improved System Stability: This avoids the situation whereby one program dominates the use of the system resources and hence makes the chances of the system crashing low. 
• Security: Viruses that are executing a specific code over and over again will not interfere with the functioning of other programs because the OS can always preempt the program’s control. 

Disadvantages of Preemptive Multitasking

• Complex Scheduling: There is difficulty in scheduling that arises from the use of complex scheduling algorithms, hence the overhead in the OS. 
• Potential Lag: This means that often switching from context to context may result in a situation where too many processes require CPU time at the same time and there will be a lag. 

What is Cooperative Multitasking? 

In cooperative multitasking, the operating system never initiates context switching from the running process to another process. A context switch occurs only when the processes voluntarily yield control periodically or when idle or logically blocked to allow multiple applications to execute simultaneously. Also, in this multitasking, all the processes cooperate for the scheduling scheme to work.

Advantages of Cooperative Multitasking

• Simplicity: Cooperative multitasking is easier to design and implement than preemptive multitasking, which indeed is our primary focus here. 
• Less Overhead: Less system overhead is incurred with fewer context switches. 

Disadvantages of Cooperative Multitasking

• Lack of Control: If a process behaves poorly or gets into an infinite loop, it can occupy the CPU very much, which will lead to system hangs or crashes. 
• Lower Reliability: They stated that the situation is that malfunctioning programs can collapse the system because the OS cannot force preempt the programs. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, preemptive multitasking provides more control to the operating system as it schedules the processes accordingly and in a precise manner while maintaining the stability of the system. On the other hand, cooperative multitasking utilizes the cooperation of the processes themselves, and therefore, this may lead to system instabilities in the event that a process fails to yield control. Preemptive multitasking is the type that is dominant in the stylized operating systems because it offers a better approach to managing multiple tasks and since it is readily robust, optimized for overall superior performance, and has a better capacity to handle faults that may occur.