COMPUTER FUNDAMENTALS

Detailed explanation-1: -An interrupt is a signal to the processor emitted by hardware or software indicating an event that needs immediate attention. Whenever an interrupt occurs, the controller completes the execution of the current instruction and starts the execution of an Interrupt Service Routine (ISR) or Interrupt Handler.

Detailed explanation-2: -An interrupt is a signal emitted by hardware or software when a process or an event needs immediate attention. It alerts the processor to a high priority process requiring interruption of the current working process.

Detailed explanation-3: -The hardware mechanism that enables a device to notify the CPU is called an interrupt. The CPU hardware has a wire called the interrupt request line that the CPU sense after executing every instruction.

Detailed explanation-4: -Definition. A hardware interrupt is an interrupt generated from an external device while the software interrupt is a type of interrupt caused by an instruction in the program. Thus, this is the main difference between hardware and software interrupt.

Detailed explanation-5: -If any interrupt occurs, it is indicated by an interrupt flag. The CPU will go to interrupt handler routine. Interrupt handler then checks the type of interrupt and executes the appropriate function. It involves overhead but still better than the CPU waiting for I/O completion or other activities.