6.2.4 Inter-Process Communication (IPC)

(Difficulty Note: This is a more advanced concept. The core idea is processes sharing info.)

Sometimes, different programs (processes) need to share information or talk to each other to get a job done. This is called Inter-Process Communication (IPC).

Imagine two friends trying to build a LEGO castle together. They need a way to pass pieces back and forth or tell each other what they're doing. In computers, this could be:

One program telling another program to start.
Two programs sharing a piece of data (like a spreadsheet program passing data to a graphing program).
A program getting information from the internet and passing it to your web browser.

The OS provides special tools (like "pipes" or "shared memory") that let these processes communicate without messing each other up.

Bibliography:

Inter Process Communication (IPC). (2025, April 23). GeeksforGeeks. Retrieved July 10, 2025, from https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/operating-systems/inter-process-communication-ipc/
IPC (Interprocess Communication). (n.d.). TutorialsPoint. Retrieved July 10, 2025, from https://www.tutorialspoint.com/inter_process_communication/inter_process_communication_overview.htm