What is the relationship between parent and child processes?

The relationship between parent and child processes is foundational in understanding process management within operating systems. When a process creates a new process, the new process is referred to as a child process, and the original process is the parent process. This relationship indicates that the child process is a direct descendant of the parent and is typically created via specific system calls (such as fork() in Unix/Linux systems).

The correct choice highlights this fundamental aspect of process creation: child processes are specifically created by a parent process. The creation implies that the child process inherits certain attributes from the parent, such as file descriptors and execution context, but can execute independently.

This relationship allows for structured programming and management of resources, as the parent can manage and control properties related to its child processes. For example, the parent might wait for a child process to finish executing or may terminate it prematurely if needed. Understanding this parent-child dynamic is crucial for effective process synchronization and resource allocation in an operating system.