Question

If a process is executing in its critical section, then no other processes can be executing in their critical section. What is this condition called?

(a) mutual exclusion

(b) critical exclusion

(c) synchronous exclusion

(d) asynchronous exclusion

The question was posed to me during an online interview.

The above asked question is from Process Synchronization in portion Processes of Operating System

Answer 1

Correct answer is (a) mutual exclusion

The best I can explain: If a process is executing in its critical section, then no other processes can be executed in their critical section. This condition is called Mutual Exclusion. Critical section of the process is shared between multiple processes. If this section is executed by more than one or all of them concurrently then the outcome of this is not as per desired outcome. For this reason the critical section of the process should not be executed concurrently.