Introduction
In today’s world of modern technology, whenever and wherever a computer is turned on to perform a certain task, millions and thousands of context switches occur every second without the user ever noticing it. So what are these context switches? When and why do we need them? How does a computer perform a context switch? These are some of the question that will be answered in this report. Furthermore, this report would give a detailed explanation on the significant increase in context switching time overhead in modern processes with cache memories, discuss the various approach that has been used to context switch and suggest efficient ways of handling it.
Background
In layman terms, context switching means changing the subject matter. However, in terms of computing, context switching is defined as the act of suspending the current executing program and activating another, whereby certain information of the current executing program is stored away so that the operating system may continue where it left off once the new program has finished execution or is paused to resumed the previous program ( ). A real life analogy would be when a person is reading a book and suddenly had the urge to use the toilet. He or she would have to use a bookmark to keep track of the current page and once the person has finished using the toilet, he or she may return to it without having any issues of resuming. Using a bookmark is similar to that of an operating system safekeeping specific information of the current executing program so that it can be resumed at a later time. Essentially, an executing program is considered to be a running process which is part of an application and within a process there are many single sequence streams...
... middle of paper ...
...he processor and the user would not be happy about it. Consequently, context switch is needed in order to handle interrupts. The third reason we need context switching is to prevent starvation of other threads especially when the current thread has elapsed the allocated processor time. Without context switching, processor would continue running the current thread without giving a chance for other threads to run which leads to starvation. On the other hand, implementing context switch would give a chance for other threads to run instead of allowing one thread to hog the processor. Nevertheless, prioritizing too much on context switching while neglecting allocation of processor time, the processor would achieve nothing and would be just switching from one thread to another. If a balance between these is achieved, the productivity level would definitely increase ( ).
...arches, exposing rats to context box repeatedly helps to minimize interference caused by contextual information (Kim, 2014). Kim also suggests that after treatment of bicuculline, increasing of spatial memory and contextual learning interfere with encoding information, therefore, alter the recollection process.
This investigation looks at retrieval failure in the long-term memory, particularly context-dependant forgetting. The theory behind retrieval failure is that available information stored in the long-term memory cannot be accessed because the retrieval cues are defective. Cue-dependant forgetting theory focuses on the assumption that the context in which we learn something is significant when we come to recall the information. Recall is better if it takes place in the same context as the learning. Research conducted on retrieval failure includes Tulving and Pearlstone (1966) who studied intrinsic cues by asking subjects to learn a list of words from different categories.
When we are doing a certain task we may get a text or we have to check our social media because of our addiction to it. These things cause us to drift off from what we actually are focused on. Sometimes we may be doing something, like reading, and our mind will subconsciously drift off onto another topic, like what our plans are for tomorrow. Some people do believe though that if the two tasks you are doing use different sections of the brain that it is all right to multitask. The example Restak gave of this was “an example of the principle of cerebral geography: The brain works at it’s best with the activation of different, rather than identical, brain areas. That’s why doodling while talking on the telephone isn’t a problem for most people, since speaking and drawing use different brain areas. But writing a thank you note while on the phone results in mental strain because speaking and writing share some of the same brain circuitry” (Restak 422). While this may be true, we still are not dedicating all of our time to just one specific task we are working
There so many differences between code meshing and code switching. As Vershawn Ashanti Young theorized the topic between the two. Code switching means the practice of moving back and forth between two languages or between two dialects of the same language Code meshing is a strategy for blending many varieties of language with privileged standard language.
In response to how fast everything around us, our brain has had to adapt. In his essay, Restak says, “we can be at two places at one time.” For example, you can be talking to someone in person but texting someone else at the same time. Technology has made it possible for us to contact someone in the other side of the world without having to be there in person. This makes us immediately available in more than one place at a time. Yet all of this has to do with our ability to what we call multitasking. Multitasking is something everyone does every day whether they realize it or not. As I said before, when you are talking to a friend and texting someone else at the same time you are multitasking. This is just another example of a way the human brain has had to adapt. Yet this also may not be as efficient as many people would think. In his essay, Restak supports this when he writes, “When you are multitasking your attention at any given moment is directed more towards one of the activates that you are doing rather than both at the same time. Your frontal lobes (which are the main control centers toward the front of your brain) must shift goals and activate new rules of operation. You also encourage different sensory experiences, which makes it harder and takes even longer to get one thing done.” Our brains are designed to work more efficiently when it works on a single task. Until very recently our minds have had to
David Silverman provided four main reasons why multitasking can be a reliable source for doing many tasks at once. The first reason is multitasking can help a person collect pieces of information faster. Silverman used the example of him getting contact from a customer to make a slide, but wasn't available so his employee started on the slide. After reading his email, Silverman and his employee accomplish the slide within thirty minutes. This example shows how in a certain time a person can collect information quicker from doing another task. The second reason is multitasking can help a person from any distractions or interruptions from doing the tasks
Code-switching is ability to switch from one language to another in the same sentence or utterance. (Bhatia and Ritchie 2004: 284) . This process in concerned with bilingual or multilingual people. In case of Chicano English, code-switching consists of English and Spanish. Many bilinguals Latinos switch from English to Spanish and from Spanish to English very often. Code-switching can concern more than two languages.
His mind starts to drift away from the texts and he’s not really understanding the material that is right in front of him. He believes that if you don’t exercise your memory, then you can become more forgetful. Carr also believes this to be true because we are using the internet to look up answers for ourselves and not doing the research to find it ourselves. We’re not relying on our memory to remember what we read, we’re just looking for the answers.
To show politeness when accepting a gift, in Taiwanese culture, people reject couple times before accepting it to show that the receiver is not greedy. However, American culture is opposite from Taiwanese culture. In American culture, the rejecting a gift is considered as rude.
User Communications. Dartmouth College, Department of Computing Services. "Computer and Network Policy." BlitzMail Bulletin. Wed, 15 Nov 2000 13:36:45.
Today, multitasking is everywhere, and is very huge in many situations. We are guilty of, multitasking and how it has become a negative and positive impact on our lives. Nowadays, people prefer to divide people in two groups; people who masters can multitask, and those who cannot. Almost everyone place themselves in the former group, thereafter they put the rest of the people in the latter. I personally find myself multitassking many things at once, and never pay attention to it. I believe that doing more than one thing is okay. In order to get things done faster multitasking seems like the answer to the question. In Tugend’s essay, she uses certain techniques that caught the reader’s attention, stating this as “you are reading this article, are you listening to music or the radio, Yelling at your children? Checking emails”? Of course, the reader was expected to read the essay. By persuading them to believe that, what she was saying was true.
...ly proven research that proves code switching to be a cause of delayed speech or cognition (De Houwer, 1999). However, it has been proven that being able to code switch between languages in a conversation benefits one cognitively, academically, as well as linguistically, as the individual have a larger and wider vocabulary, lexical terms, and phrases to choose from to convey a message (Skiba, 1997; Bialystok, 2001). Futhermore, by engaging in code switching, it also promotes cross cultural appreciaton and uniqueness (King & Fogle, 2006), where it can be embraced during the process of alternating between two languages in a conversation. Additionally, in my opinion, code switching should be cogitated as a spoken skill as it requires a high degree of linguistic proficiency rather than a weakness of consuming inadequate knowledge of one or the other language being used.
Alina Tugend uses research in the article from Edward M. Hallowell who says, “Multitasking is shifting focus from one task to another in rapid succession. It gives the illusion that we’re simultaneously tasking, but we’re really not.” (Tugend, 2008, par. 4) Multitasking does not allow people to give their full attention to one thing, so tasks can easily be done incorrectly or with half-effort when multitasking. The article also says in a 2001 study published in The Journal of Experimental Psychology, they found, “the participants lost time when they had to move back and forth from one undertaking to another, and that took significantly longer to switch between the more complicated tasks.” (Tugend, 2008, par. 18) Changing in the middle of a task can not only cause complications in the completion of the task, but it can waste valuable time as well. Throughout the article, Tugend lacks to inform the readers of causes of multitasking, this may be because she wants the readers to agree with her viewpoint. It is obvious that the author thinks that too much multitasking is not beneficial, so including possible causes of
Multitasking is to simultaneously work in several directions. In truth, multitasking does not exist, at least in the way we perceive it. One cannot do more than one activity at a time; your brain is essentially switching tasks
Context is defined as that the way we interpret a part of the pattern is depended on the rest of the pattern. During our process of interpretation, isolated parts that affect our interpretation the most (known as "clues") guide us in selecting the right schemata to interpret this specific pattern; and when we find the right schemata, the rest of the pattern becomes the "context" or "background.