Describe two different techniques for handling the communications between a processor and devices.

What will be an ideal response?

The two techniques are interrupts and polling. With polling, the processor repeatedly checks to see if it must service the channel. If not, then the processor tests the next channel. With polling, the processor is essentially always in control, but it may waste time discovering that devices do not need its attention. With interrupts, the channel that needs service generates a hardware signal called an interrupt that immediately gets the processor’s attention. The advantage is that no time is wasted on devices that do not need attention.