round-robin

algorithm A scheduling algorithm in which processes are

activated in a fixed cyclic order. Those which cannot proceed

because they are waiting for some event (e.g. termination of a

child process or an input/output operation) simply return

control to the scheduler. The virtue of round-robin

scheduling is its simplicity - only the processes themselves

need to know what they are waiting for or how to tell if it

has happened. However, if a process goes back to sleep just

before the event for which it is waiting occurs then the event

will not get handled until all the other processes have been

activated.

Compare priority scheduling.

(1996-02-10)