Earliest Deadline First
Earliest Deadline First (EDF) is a dynamic priority scheduling algorithm used in real-time operating systems and embedded systems. It assigns the highest priority to the task with the nearest deadline, ensuring that tasks are executed in order of urgency. This algorithm is optimal for preemptive, single-processor systems in meeting deadlines when tasks are independent and have known execution times.
Developers should learn EDF when designing real-time systems where meeting task deadlines is critical, such as in avionics, automotive control, or medical devices. It is particularly useful in scenarios with periodic or aperiodic tasks, as it maximizes CPU utilization while minimizing deadline misses compared to fixed-priority schedulers like Rate Monotonic Scheduling.