Explain the concept of thread, Computer Engineering

Assignment Help:

The Concept of Thread

A thread is a sequential flow of control within a process. A process is able to have one or more threads. Threads have their own register-values and program-counter but they share memory space and other resources of the process. Every process begins with a single thread. Through the execution, other threads can be created as and when required. Similar to processes, every thread has an execution state (terminated, ready, blocked or running). A thread has right to use the memory address space and resources of its process. Threads have similar life cycles as processes do. A single processor system may support concurrency by switching execution among two or more threads. A multi processor system may support parallel concurrency by executing a separate thread on every processor. There are three fundamental techniques in concurrent programming languages for terminating and creating threads: 

  • Unsynchronised creation and termination - In this mode threads are created and terminated by means of library functions for example START_PROCESS, CREATE_PROCESS, START_THREAD, CREATE_THREAD and. Thus because of these function calls a new thread or process is created and starts executing independent of its parents.
  • Synchronized termination and unsynchronised creation: This manner uses two instructions: JOIN and FORK. The FORK instruction creates a new thread or process. When the parent needs the child's (thread or process) result, it calls JOIN instruction. At this junction two processes (threads) are synchronised.
  • Synchronised termination and creation: The most often system construct to implement synchronization is COBEGIN...COEND. The threads among the COBEGIN...COEND construct are implemented in parallel. The termination of parent-child is suspended till all child threads are terminated.

We can think of a thread as essentially a lightweight process. Though, threads propose a number of advantages over processes. The advantages are as follows:

a)  It does not take so much time to create and terminate a new thread than to create and terminate a process. The reason is that a newly created thread uses the current process address space.  

b)  It does not take so much time to switch between two threads within a common process, partly since the newly created thread uses current process address space. 

c)  Less communication overheads -- communicating between the threads of one process is simple since the threads share amongst other entities the address space. So, data generated by one thread is right away available to all other threads.


Related Discussions:- Explain the concept of thread

Create a complete mp3 player, Write a GUI/MP3 program called MP3Random that...

Write a GUI/MP3 program called MP3Random that reads all MP3 les in a directory and plays them in random order. The GUI should have a little window with: 1. A button Next that s

Backward chaining, Backward Chaining: In generally given that we are o...

Backward Chaining: In generally given that we are only interested in constructing the path whether we can set our initial state to be the theorem statement and search backward

Illustrate organisation of dram chip, Q. Illustrate Organisation of DRAM Ch...

Q. Illustrate Organisation of DRAM Chip? The given figure is a typical organisation of 16 mega bit DRAM. It displays a typical organisation of 2048 × 2048 × 4 bit DRAM chip. Me

Towers of hanoi problem, The Towers of Hanoi Problem Towers of Hanoi pro...

The Towers of Hanoi Problem Towers of Hanoi problem is described. There are three pegs on which disks are "threaded" (there are holes in the disks to allow them to be placed on

Operating system., what is the minimum number of page faults for an optimal...

what is the minimum number of page faults for an optimal page replacement strategy?

Show the hypothetical instruction format of 32 bits, Q. Show the Hypothetic...

Q. Show the Hypothetical Instruction Format of 32 bits? A sample instruction format is shown in figure below. Figure: A Hypothetical Instruction Format of 32 bits

Sorting algorithms, Two way merge sort for 84,83,78,90,23,123,98,159,8,200

Two way merge sort for 84,83,78,90,23,123,98,159,8,200

Illustrate the term extranet, Illustrate the term Extranet? Extranet:...

Illustrate the term Extranet? Extranet: Extranet is Extension of an Intranet that makes thelatter accessible to outside companies or individuals with or without an intran

Which objects are independent transport objects, Which objects are independ...

Which objects are independent transport objects? Domains, Data elements, Tables, Technical settings for tables, Secondary indexes for transparent tables, Structures, Views, Ma

Explain an exceptional handling in java with an example, Explain an excepti...

Explain an exceptional handling in java with the help of suitable example. Java exception handling is managed through five keywords: catch, try, throw, finally and throws. Th

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd