Summary

The task management component of OS/2 Version 2.0 is greatly improved over that implemented in previous versions of OS/2, while maintaining backward compatibility for applications and resources written to previous versions. Significant effort has been made to enhance performance and remove system limitations experienced in previous versions.

The result of these efforts is summarized below:

  • All 16-bit applications and resources may be used in the OS/2 Version 2.0 environment.

  • New 32-bit applications are able to exploit the benefits of the 80386 processor.

  • The thread limitation of 53 threads per process is removed.

  • The thread limitation for the entire system is increased from 512 to 4096 threads.

  • The process limitation for the entire system is increased to 4095.

  • The operating system contains more swappable code, thereby reducing its real memory requirements and allowing more storage to be used by applications.

    These enhancements provide a greater diversity of function for the application developer, allowing more sophisticated applications to be written and executed under OS/2 Version 2.0 using multiple threads and processes, while reducing the effort required to synchronize and communicate between threads and processes.

    Threads may be more easily created, controlled and terminated under OS/2 Version 2.0 than under previous versions of OS/2, thereby reducing the effort required to generate high-function, multithreaded applications which fully exploit the OS/2 Version 2.0 platform.

    Improved efficiency in module loading and execution results in enhanced application performance. Improved mechanisms for resolution of semaphore contention allow improved dispatching and thereby reduce overhead, further enhancing overall performance.

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