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In a variant of Dining Philosophers where one philosopher is extremely fast and others are slow, which solution best prevents starvation of slow philosophers?

hard⚖️ Approach Comparison Q8 of Q15
Operating Systems - Dining Philosophers - Problem, Deadlock & Solution
In a variant of Dining Philosophers where one philosopher is extremely fast and others are slow, which solution best prevents starvation of slow philosophers?
AUse a global waiter granting forks in a fair queue order
BUse random backoff and retry on fork acquisition failure
CImplement resource hierarchy with fixed fork ordering
DAllow philosophers to pick forks in any order with no arbitration
Step-by-Step Solution
Solution:

  1. Step 1: Identify starvation risk

    Fast philosopher can monopolize forks, starving slower ones.

  2. Step 2: Evaluate solutions

    Global waiter with fair queue ensures FIFO granting, preventing starvation.

  3. Step 3: Why others fail

    No arbitration or random backoff can still starve slow philosophers; resource hierarchy prevents deadlock but not starvation.

  4. Final Answer:

    Option A -> Option A

  5. Quick Check:

    Fair queueing prevents starvation in asymmetric speeds [OK]
Quick Trick: Fair queueing prevents starvation under speed imbalance [OK]
Common Mistakes:
MISTAKES
  • Assuming resource hierarchy prevents starvation
  • Believing random backoff ensures fairness
  • Ignoring arbitration in fork acquisition
Trap Explanation:
PITFALL
  • Candidates confuse deadlock prevention with starvation fairness, missing queueing importance.
Interviewer Note:
CONTEXT
  • Tests application of starvation prevention in edge cases.
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