<P> In computing , multitasking is the concurrent execution of multiple tasks ( also known as processes ) over a certain period of time . New tasks can interrupt already started ones before they finish , instead of waiting for them to end . As a result , a computer executes segments of multiple tasks in an interleaved manner , while the tasks share common processing resources such as central processing units ( CPUs ) and main memory . Multitasking automatically interrupts the running program , saving its state ( partial results , memory contents and computer register contents ) and loading the saved state of another program and transferring control to it . This `` context switch '' may be initiated at fixed time intervals ( pre-emptive multitasking ) , or the running program may be coded to signal to the supervisory software when it can be interrupted ( cooperative multitasking ) . </P>
<P> In computing , multitasking is the concurrent execution of multiple tasks ( also known as processes ) over a certain period of time . New tasks can interrupt already started ones before they finish , instead of waiting for them to end . As a result , a computer executes segments of multiple tasks in an interleaved manner , while the tasks share common processing resources such as central processing units ( CPUs ) and main memory . Multitasking automatically interrupts the running program , saving its state ( partial results , memory contents and computer register contents ) and loading the saved state of another program and transferring control to it . This `` context switch '' may be initiated at fixed time intervals ( pre-emptive multitasking ) , or the running program may be coded to signal to the supervisory software when it can be interrupted ( cooperative multitasking ) . </P>
an os method of allowing multiple processes to share the cpu is
an os method of allowing multiple processes to share the cpu is
multitasking
multitasking