what is the difference between a computer task and an input output task?
 

hey quick question,

what is the difference between a computer task and an input output task?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Task_(computing)

is there any difference at all?

thank you

would be nice to define what do they mean at all? What is a computer task and what is an input output task?

i asked chatgpt and it just gives me it's usual word salad


In the context of computing or programming, a "task" typically refers to a unit of work that needs to be completed by a computer program or system. This could encompass a wide range of activities, such as processing data, performing calculations, handling user interactions, or executing specific instructions.

On the other hand, an "input-output task" specifically refers to tasks that involve taking input from some source (such as a user, a file, or another system), processing that input in some way, and then producing output. Input-output tasks are fundamental in many areas of computing, especially in applications where interaction with users or external systems is involved.

So, while all input-output tasks are tasks, not all tasks necessarily involve input and output operations. The distinction lies in the focus on input and output specifically in input-output tasks.










I/O (Input/Output) refers to the interaction of a computer or computer program with the system's disk and network. Examples of I/O activities include reading/writing data from/to disk, performing HTTP requests, and interacting with databases. These activities are slower compared to accessing RAM or performing computations on the CPU.


















what is an example of a task that isn't an i/o task?
ChatGPT
Certainly! Here's an example of a task that isn't an I/O task:

Computational Task: Suppose you have a program that calculates the factorial of a given number. When a user inputs a number, the program performs a series of mathematical operations (multiplications) to compute the factorial. This process involves pure computation without any input/output operations. The task here is purely computational, as it involves performing mathematical operations on data in memory without interacting with external sources such as files or networks.











what is an example of an i/o task?
ChatGPT
An example of an I/O task is reading data from a file. Here's how it might work:

Suppose you have a program that needs to read a list of names from a text file. The I/O task involves opening the file, reading its contents, and then storing the data in memory for further processing.

Obviously all the word salads of any chatgpt are identical, means nothing, but looks like something useful.
I don't think we really want to discuss the capabilities of a chatgpt.

But what are you looking for?

Units of work can be compute-bound or I/O-bound. This reflects how long each one will take to complete. One is compute-intensive and is limited by the speed of the microprocessor. The other spends most of its time waiting for I/O, and is limited by the speed of devices.

Might be easier if you used those in a sentence.

This is the first time I’ve ever heard the phrase “input output task”.

a definition on the difference between a computer task and an I/O task

ok so basically a there are two types of tasks a computer can do,

1: a computer task involving only the processor

2: a computer task involving the processor and another device, and that is called an I/O task

and example of a task that just the processor itself can do is mathematical equations, so if you open a calculator on your computer and have it do math, that is the computer doing a "task"

but if you start asking the computer to read a file, or access a cd rom, or a mouse or a keyboard, that is an I/O task because the processor needs to take information from a device (the input) and then process that information, then send that information somewhere else (the output)

and so that is the difference between a task and an I/O task right?

based on your definition the difference is that a computer task does not do i/o operation.
But that's completely wrong, that's not how a CPU or a computer works.
In short, in general:
For a CPU (or a task?) the world is just an area containing some kind of data - called RAM and contains all the instructions and the variables to work with. Nothing more.
Some part of the RAM is somehow mapped to "other" devices, like tape, disk, screen, network, whatever, when the CPU tries to access those addresses it will actually use that given device (read or write).

There is no task which does not do any i/o operation, that is just pointless. It should read some input data from somewhere to work with and should put the result to somewhere (screen, disk, keyboard, ....). Not to speak about the fact that you need to use i/o to start that task itself, because it is located on a storage, not in the ram initially.
From this point of view the answer is: 1. the simple task does not exist.

Every now and then, someone comes up with a "truly compute-bound task." For instance, contributing to the calculation of the final digits of "pi," or performing some astronomical calculation. Some enterprising individuals have even incorporated such things into screen savers.

It is "nice" to run a compute-bound process using a command such as nice, which automatically assigns it a lower dispatch priority. This encourages the operating system to "run this task whenever it doesn't have anything better to do." (Which is actually, "almost always.") The compute-bound task really doesn't care, and it "nicely" doesn't want to get in the way of its I/O-bound brethren: unlike the others, it can afford to wait.

However, the kernel "scheduler" is also pretty smart in recognizing the characteristics of each running thread or process, and it will generally subdivide them in this manner regardless of user priority assignments.

My reply MAY be out of scope.
I am describing the communication between computer and customer communications.

It's hard to understand your phraseology, but it sounds (to me) like you talking about the difference between a task handled by a computer, and one handled manually (mostly) by a human being. ( ? )

The original qn did sound a lot like asking the difference between an compute-bound task and a task involving I/O to eg disk etc.
Both of these are (ofc) a 'computer' task.

My simplification: There are 4 types of CPU instructions (wiki): move, compute, branch, I/O.

Sidenote: Interrupts (when I/O completes) allow the CPU to continue while I/O (devices<>memory) is happening.

In 1980 Basic language: 1 input x; 2 if x <= 0, goto 1; 3 y = x+1; 4 ... (print or loop etc)

web-research how to write a tiny program in python or bash, to demonstrate this to yourself.

htop

p.s. bash: while true;do ((++i));done # ++i is optional, to actually compute vs. just branch. &top # q fg ^c # or : as null cmds

The simplest compute-bound task, in BASIC, would be: 10 GOTO 10. :)

But a more-realistic example would be, say, "CGI frame-rendering." This task requires large blocks of very-intensive calculation, such that a CPU which is twice as fast will complete the job in about half the time. (The time required to read or write the completed frames is, in this case, irrelevant.) This is also the reason why modern CPUs have "heat sinks!" (And, why I cannot do certain forms of rendering on my heat-intolerant laptop.)

Most of the things that we do with computers involve only a trivial amount of "computing." Most of the time, they are waiting for an I/O operation to complete. Then, they do just enough "computing" to prepare the next I/O operation, and they wait again. A computer system can efficiently support a large number of these tasks, if the I/O subsystem is "beefy" enough. (Or, if the tasks are using a network.) Your "heat-intolerant laptop" can do this sort of thing all day, "no sweat."

This is the justification for, for example, the "last digits of pi screen-saver." It literally gives your CPU "something to do in the meantime."