What is the difference between a thread/process/task?

Question

What is the difference between a thread/process/task?

Answer 1

A process invokes or initiates a program. It is an instance of a program that can be multiple and running the same application. A thread is the smallest unit of execution that lies within the process. A process can have multiple threads running. An execution of thread results in a task. Hence, in a multithreading environment, multithreading takes place.

A program in execution is known as process. A program can have any number of processes. Every process has its own address space.

Threads uses address spaces of the process. The difference between a thread and a process is, when the CPU switches from one process to another the current information needs to be saved in Process Descriptor and load the information of a new process. Switching from one thread to another is simple.

A task is simply a set of instructions loaded into the memory. Threads can themselves split themselves into two or more simultaneously running tasks.

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