Exceptions

Conditions discovered by the processor while executing an instruction

Example

  • Program error: Divide by 0
  • OS requests: Page fault
  • Hardware error: internal processor error

Processes handle exceptions similar to Interrupts

  1. processor stops at the instruction that triggered the exception
  2. control is transferred to a fixed location where the exception handler is located
  3. execute in Kernel mode
System Calls are a class of exceptions