Practice question · Select all that apply
Select every statement that is a genuine advantage of interrupts over polling.
Hints
- Interrupts change when the CPU pays attention, not how fast the hardware itself runs.
- One option describes a cost of interrupts, wrongly dressed up as a benefit.
Show the answer
- A. A slow device no longer holds up the processor
- C. The CPU can do useful work while the device is busy
- E. The device gets the CPU's attention only when it actually needs it
Why
Interrupts free the CPU between request and completion and remove the need to hold the processor hostage to a slow device. They do not speed up the device itself, and they actually add the cost of saving and restoring state on each interrupt, so option 2 has the truth exactly backwards.
Practise Input-Output and Peripheral Communication
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