MULTITASKING

Execution of programs simultaneously on a single computer. In newer operating systems, two or more programs may be running "in the background" while the user is concentrating on another program running "in the foreground." Limits on how many programs can be run at the same time depend more upon hardware capacities, especially RAM amounts. Most operating systems now have multitasking capabilities. Multitasking differs from multiloading in which RAM contains multiple programs that can only be run one at a time. (See also Operating system )