Independent processes operate concurrently without affecting each other, while cooperating processes can impact one another. Inter-process communication (IPC) allows processes to share information, improve computation speed, and share resources. The two main types of IPC are shared memory and message passing. Shared memory uses a common memory region for fast communication, while message passing involves establishing communication links and exchanging messages without shared variables. Key considerations for message passing include direct vs indirect communication and synchronous vs asynchronous messaging.