round-robin


round-robin

(algorithm)A scheduling algorithm in which processes areactivated in a fixed cyclic order. Those which cannot proceedbecause they are waiting for some event (e.g. termination of achild process or an input/output operation) simply returncontrol to the scheduler. The virtue of round-robinscheduling is its simplicity - only the processes themselvesneed to know what they are waiting for or how to tell if ithas happened. However, if a process goes back to sleep justbefore the event for which it is waiting occurs then the eventwill not get handled until all the other processes have beenactivated.

Compare priority scheduling.