Top 10 List of Week 06

1. Multiple Concurrent Linux Distribution
   Apparently you can run multiple linux distro at the same time, on the same computer, only by concurrency. No virtial machine needed. This article explains briefly on how it works, how to achieve it, and at what scenario it will be useful (spoiler alert: software development for multipple linux distros).

2. Threads and fork(): Think twice before mixing them
   This article talks about bad things that could happen when you use fork() in a multi-threaded program. fork() can be problematic if you’re not careful, and usually it is not worth the struggle. The article helps you indentify those potential problems and alternative approach to avoid them.

3. Understanding Linux Processes (Playlist)
   Here’s a playlist of in depth youtube videos that talks about about linux processes. Also don’t forgt to take a look at the comments, since some people shared their notes and having a discussion about the topic. The video itself is kind of slow-paced so I recommend watch them on 1.5x playback speed.

4. Linux Processes, init, fork/exec, ps, kill, fg, bg, jobs (Video)
   Same as number 3, but much simpler and shorter video length. The video explains how init was called and how a process were created and how we can suspend/ terminate a process and pull the suspended process to the terminal again.

5. Synchronization mechanisms inside Linux kernel
   The article helps you choose between various synchronization mechanism that are available at Linux kernel itself. This article is helpful to prevent crash or kernel panic caused by choosing the wrong synchronization mechanism. Because every synchronization mechanism has its own pros and cons.

6. Tuning Completely Fair scheduler (CFS)
   CFS is the default scheduling algorithm on Linux since October 2007. In this article, Mr. Onno talks about how we can change CFS parameters to manually tune our OS. Mr. Onno also explain the meaning of each parameters and show how we can apply the changes permanently.

7. A fork() in the road
   Microsoft researchers claims that the fork() and exec() method of process creation is holding back modern system research and should be deprecated. Surprisingly, most people agree with the paper since both can introduce various unnecessary edge cases.

8. fork() is evil; vfork() is goodness; afork() would be better; clone() is stupid
   This article (or should I say an informative rant) explains why fork is frustrating and prone to errors and offer laternatives to avoid fork weirdness. Though they warned about the dangers of alternatives and its pros/cons.

9. FORK BOMBS!!!!!
   Fork Bomb is essentially a recursove function what will call itself recursively. One of the most popular form of fork bomb is :(){ :|: & };: (DO NOT RUN THE COMMAND, IT’S CALLED A BOMB FOR A REASON, READ THE LINK). : is the name of the function and it is put in the background without a way to terminate it.

10. Thread synchronization with mutexes in C (video)
    Here’s a demo video of using mutex to synchronize threads in C programming language. The video also talks about deadlock and how to avoid them as well as the practical examples of using mutex. This video is very neat and useful.

We are entering the weird side of system design. Brace yourself folks, and stay healthy!