OS1: Process Management – Unit 3: Threads

Introduction A thread, sometimes called a lightweight process (LWP), is a basic unit of CPU utilization; it comprises a thread ID, a program counter, a register set, and a stack. It shares with other threads belonging to the same process its code section, data section, and other operating system resources, such as open files and signals. A traditional (or heavyweight) process has a single thread of control. If the process has multiple threads of control, it can do more than one task at a time. Figure 3.1 illustrates the difference between a traditional single-threaded process and a multithreaded process. 2.0 Objectives At the end of this unit, you should be able to: Distinguish between a thread and a process Enumerate the advantages of threads over processes Distinguish between user and kernel threads