Process vs Thread

• A Process is simply a running program

  • When you run a program, it receives the resources (memory) needed for execution from the OS and becomes a process

  • In other words, a process refers to a running program that has been loaded from Disk into memory and can receive CPU allocation.

• A Process consists of an address space, files, memory, and other resources needed to run the program, as well as threads,

  • and the thread is what actually performs the work using the Process's resources

• A Process includes a process stack that holds temporary data such as function parameters, return addresses, and local variables, as well as a data section that stores global variables

  • Additionally, a process includes a Heap, which is dynamically allocated memory during execution

• Every process has at least one thread, and a process with two or more threads is called a multi-threaded process

  • Tip) It is easy to understand if you think of a Thread as a worker in a workspace (factory) called a process!

• There is no limit to the number of threads a single process can have, but since each thread requires its own memory space (call stack) to perform work, the number of threads that can be created is determined by the process's memory limit