Question

In the bounded buffer problem, there are the empty and full semaphores that :

a) count the number of empty and full buffers
b) count the number of empty and full memory spaces
c) count the number of empty and full queues
d) None of these

Answer 1

In the bounded buffer problem, the empty and full semaphores count the number of empty and full buffers respectively, ensuring proper synchronization between producer and consumer processes to prevent overfilling or consuming from an empty buffer.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the bounded buffer problem, semaphores are synchronization tools used to manage concurrent processes' access to a buffer with a limited number of slots. Specifically, the empty and full semaphores are used to track the state of the buffer:

• The empty semaphore counts the number of empty buffers available for producers to fill with data.
• The full semaphore counts the number of full buffers that are filled with data and ready to be consumed by consumers.

Therefore, in the context of the bounded buffer problem, the correct answer to the student's question is a) count the number of empty and full buffers. This ensures that producers do not overfill the buffer and consumers do not try to consume from an empty buffer, thereby avoiding race conditions and data integrity issues.

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