What is spooling in an operating system?
a) A process where data is temporarily held in a buffer until the destination device is ready to handle it
b) A method for handling interrupts
c) A technique for swapping memory
d) A method for scheduling high-priority processes
Answer:
a) A process where data is temporarily held in a buffer until the destination device is ready to handle it
Explanation:
Spooling (Simultaneous Peripheral Operation On-Line) is a process where data is temporarily held in a buffer or spool until a destination device, such as a printer, is ready to handle it. This technique allows processes to continue running without waiting for the slower peripheral device to become available.
For example, when printing, data is sent to a spool (temporary storage) before it is transmitted to the printer. This allows the CPU to move on to other tasks while the printer completes its current job.
Spooling improves system efficiency by enabling processes to offload data to slower devices in a managed, orderly way, reducing delays and improving resource utilization.