The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
Cycle stealing is a design technique for the central processing unit (CPU) that periodically "grabs" machine cycles from the main processor usually by some peripheral control unit, such as a DMA (direct memory access) device. (A cycle of a computer is the speed of oscillations of the computer's internal clock. The cycle is usually measured in megahertz (MHz), or millions of cycles per second. Also called clock speed, the cycle determines how quickly the CPU can execute basic instructions and is used to synchronize the activities of various components (or "peripherals") in a computer system.) When cycle stealing occurs the DMA channel is given priority to memory over the CPU. In this way, processing and peripheral operations can be performed concurrently or, at least, with some degree of overlap.
Computers are often idle even when a user is working on the computer. Studies have shown that computers can be in an idle state for up to fifty percent of the time. Even while the computer is in direct use by the user (e.g., physically pressing keys of the computer or clicking on the mouse), substantial resources are still available to run other jobs. The technique of cycle stealing allows the processor that is waiting for a primary job, such as information from users, input/output devices, or networks, to take (or "steal") unused cycles for secondary jobs (those other than the primary job). Since the CPU has ultimate priority over these secondary jobs, the stealing of cycles normally does not adversely affect the performance of the computer with respect to the processing of the primary job.