Quote:
Originally Posted by mgmueller
But I don't consider this "Multi-Tasking".
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Correctly so. The term for that is task-switching.
True-multitasking requires that multiple applications be active simultaneously and that (at least) the OS keep track of each application's exact state.
The lowest level of multi-tasking is cooperative multi-tasking (ala MacOS Switcher, circa 1990) where only one app runs at a time but it can be interrupted, paused, and its state saved so you can switch to another app.
The highest level (and highest quality) of multitasking is when the OS preemptively interrupts the apps that are active and divides available CPU cycles to keep them all running simultaneously without loss of data or responsiveness (the apps don't even know they've been interrupted).
How well OSes handle the scheduling of multple simultaneous apps, giving priority to time-critical/active apps while deemphasizing the inactive ones is one measure of a polished high quality OS versus a crude, simpler one.