Stop Killing Processes! Make Ctrl+C Meow Instead… (with Signals)

Signals are a form of interprocess communication in Linux that allow processes to notify each other of events without sharing memory or sending large amounts of data. When you press Ctrl+C, the terminal sends a SIGINT signal to interrupt the running process. Each signal has a default handler, but you can write custom handlers to override default behaviors like process termination. Some signals like SIGKILL (signal 9) and SIGSTOP cannot be caught or ignored, making them useful for forcefully terminating unresponsive processes. The kill command and kill() function are used to send signals between processes, and signals are also used by the kernel to notify processes of system-level events like segmentation faults or illegal instructions.