Key Difference Between Process and Thread
Process means a program is in execution, whereas thread means a segment of a
process.
A Process is not Lightweight, whereas Threads are Lightweight.
A Process takes more time to terminate, and the thread takes less time to terminate.
Process takes more time for creation, whereas Thread takes less time for creation.
Process likely takes more time for context switching whereas as Threads takes less time
for context switching.
A Process is mostly isolated, whereas Threads share memory.
Process does not share data, and Threads share data with each other.
What is a Process?
A process is the execution of a program that allows you to perform the appropriate actions
specified in a program. It can be defined as an execution unit where a program runs. The OS
helps you to create, schedule, and terminates the processes which is used by CPU. The other
processes created by the main process are called child process.
A process operations can be easily controlled with the help of PCB(Process Control Block). You
can consider it as the brain of the process, which contains all the crucial information related to
processing like process id, priority, state, and contents CPU register, etc.
What is Thread?
Thread is an execution unit that is part of a process. A process can have multiple threads, all
executing at the same time. It is a unit of execution in concurrent programming. A thread is
lightweight and can be managed independently by a scheduler. It helps you to improve the
application performance using parallelism.
Multiple threads share information like data, code, files, etc. We can implement threads in
three different ways:
1. Kernel-level threads
2. User-level threads
3. Hybrid threads
Properties of Process
Here are the important properties of the process:
Creation of each process requires separate system calls for each process.
It is an isolated execution entity and does not share data and information.
Processes use the IPC(Inter-Process Communication) mechanism for communication
that significantly increases the number of system calls.
Process management takes more system calls.
A process has its stack, heap memory with memory, and data map.
Properties of Thread
Here are important properties of Thread:
Single system call can create more than one thread
Threads share data and information.
Threads shares instruction, global, and heap regions. However, it has its register and
stack.
Thread management consumes very few, or no system calls because of communication
between threads that can be achieved using shared memory.
Here, are the important differences between Process and Thread
Parameter Process Thread
Process means a program is in
Definition Thread means a segment of a process.
execution.
Lightweight The process is not Lightweight. Threads are Lightweight.
The process takes more time to
Termination time The thread takes less time to terminate.
terminate.
Creation time It takes more time for creation. It takes less time for creation.
Communication between threads
Communication between processes
Communication requires less time compared to
needs more time compared to thread.
processes.
Context switching It takes more time for context
It takes less time for context switching.
time switching.
Resource Process consume more resources. Thread consume fewer resources.
Different process are tread separately All the level peer threads are treated as
Treatment by OS
by OS. a single task by OS.
Memory The process is mostly isolated. Threads share memory.
Sharing It does not share data Threads share data with each other.
What is Multithreading?
Multithreading refers to multiple threads of execution within an operating system. In
simple terms, two or more threads of a same process are executing simultaneously.