Introduction

Now that we have covered the basics of process structure and generation, we can begin to address the topic of interprocess communications. It is common for processes to need to coordinate their activities (e.g., such as when accessing a non-shareable system resource). Conceptually, this coordination is implemented via some form of passive or active communication between processes. As we will see, there are a number of ways in which interprocess communications can be carried out. The remaining chapters address a variety of interprocess communication techniques. As the techniques become more sophisticated, they become more complex, and hopefully more flexible and reliable. We begin by discussing primitive communication techniques that, while they get the job done, have certain limitations.