Editing Thread (computing) (section)

{{About|the concurrency concept|multithreading in hardware|Multithreading (computer architecture)|the form of code consisting entirely of [[subroutine]] calls|Threaded code|other uses|Thread (disambiguation)}}
{{short description|Smallest sequence of programmed instructions that can be managed independently by a scheduler}}
[[File:Multithreaded process.svg|thumb|A process with two threads of execution, running on one [[Processor (computing)|processor]]]]
[[File:Concepts- Program vs. Process vs. Thread.jpg|thumb|[[Computer program|Program]] vs. [[Process (computing)|Process]] vs. Thread <br/>[[Scheduling (computing)|Scheduling]], [[Preemption (computing)|Preemption]], [[Context switch|Context Switching]]|400x400px]]

In [[computer science]], a '''thread''' of [[Execution (computing)|execution]] is the smallest sequence of programmed instructions that can be managed independently by a [[scheduling (computing)|scheduler]], which is typically a part of the [[operating system]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lamport |first=Leslie |author-link=Leslie Lamport |date=September 1979 |title=How to Make a Multiprocessor Computer That Correctly Executes Multiprocess Programs |url=http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/lamport/pubs/multi.pdf |journal=IEEE Transactions on Computers |volume=C-28 |pages=690–691 |doi=10.1109/tc.1979.1675439 |number=9 |s2cid=5679366}}</ref> In many cases, a thread is a component of a [[Process (computing)|process]]. 

The multiple threads of a given process may be executed [[concurrent computation|concurrently]] (via multithreading capabilities), sharing resources such as [[Shared memory (interprocess communication)|memory]], while different processes do not share these resources. In particular, the threads of a process share its executable code and the values of its [[Memory management#HEAP|dynamically allocated]] variables and non-[[thread-local storage|thread-local]] [[global variable]]s at any given time. 

The implementation of threads and [[process (computing)|processes]] differs between operating systems.<ref name="tanenbaum199200">{{cite book |last=Tanenbaum |first=Andrew S. |author-link=Andrew S. Tanenbaum |title=Modern Operating Systems |date=1992 |publisher=Prentice-Hall International Editions |isbn=0-13-595752-4}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=December 2022}} 

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