What is cycle-stealing?

Answer 1

A CPU design technique that periodically "grabs" machine cycles from the main processor usually by some peripheral control unit, such as a DMA (direct memory access) device. In this way, processing and peripheral operations can be performed concurrently or with some degree of overlap.

Answer 2

Cycle stealing is a method used in computer systems to share processing time between different tasks or processes by each one taking turns using the CPU. This technique allows multiple processes to execute concurrently, with each process getting a small amount of CPU time before moving on to the next process, creating the illusion of parallel execution. Cycle stealing is commonly used in systems with a single CPU to maximize its utilization.