| Definition |
A program in execution; an independent instance of a running program |
A lightweight, smaller unit of a process, executing within the process context |
| Basic Unit of Execution |
Independent program |
Segment of a process |
| States |
New, Ready, Running, Waiting, Terminated, Suspended |
Running, Ready, Blocked |
| Creation |
Can create and terminate other processes (child processes) |
Threads are created and terminated within a process |
| Communication and Isolation |
Isolated; does not share memory with other processes |
Threads within the same process share the same memory space |
| Resource Sharing |
Typically does not share resources directly with other processes |
Shares resources directly with other threads in the same process |
| Termination Time |
Takes more time to terminate |
Takes less time to terminate compared to processes |
| Overhead |
Generally has higher overhead due to the need for separate memory space |
Lower overhead as threads share the same memory space within a process |
| Independence |
Processes are more independent of each other |
Threads are closely tied and dependent on the process they belong to |
| Coordination |
Communication between processes often involves inter-process communication mechanisms |
Communication between threads is usually more straightforward as they share the same memory space |
