Describe the difference between a Thread and a Process?

Posted By: Avi

Date: 30 October 2009 07:29:42 AM

Answer:

A process is a unit of execution which has its own data regarding the source, has its own memory space for addresses, and can interact with other processes only through communication systems that the operating system runs specifically for processes to communicate with each other. A process can have sub-processes as well. A Thread is a small piece of the code within the single process. A Process may consist of numerous threads. These threads within the same process share the same memory space, process instruction, data segment,open file descriptor, etc. Also, they do not need communication systems run by the OS, they can communicate with each other directly. Thread has its own set of register including program counter,stack pointer.
Posted By: eTechPlanet	Date: 30 October 2009 07:29:42 AM
A thread consists of a series of computer instructions and usually corresponds to the CPUs execution of a series of instructions. Threads use the registers and the 'stack' as its memory (state). A process contains at least one thread and private memory. A process is the operating system loads when one executes a program. When a process contains multiple threads, there is usually thread synchronization needed. In Windows programming, the primary thread is what creates the user-interface controls and it's that thread that is allowed exclusive privileges to update the user-interface. In Windows programming, a process receives and sends messages to the operating system.
Posted By: Johndecruse	Date: 17 February 2010 12:52:26 AM