Managing CPU Traffic for Efficiency

Your powerful computer secretly gets stuck in traffic. The operating system is the traffic cop

for your CPU, deciding which programs get to run. Imagine a "first-come, first-served" rule.

If a massive, slow task gets in line first, all the small, quick jobs get stuck

waiting behind it. This is the "convoy effect"—a digital traffic jam inside your machine.

Your quick browser refresh is literally waiting for a huge video file to finish processing.

That's why smart operating systems use other methods, giving every program a small slice of

time to keep things moving and feeling responsive.