Process, Threads and Goroutines

Process:

• A process is an instance of a running program on a computer. It consists of the program code, associated data, and resources (such as memory, file handles, and system resources) allocated by the operating system.

• Each process is isolated from other processes and runs independently. It has its own memory space and cannot directly access the memory of other processes.

• Processes are managed by the operating system's kernel, which schedules their execution, allocates resources, and provides mechanisms for inter-process communication (IPC).

• Examples of processes include web browsers, word processors, media players, and system services.

Threads:

• A thread is the smallest unit of execution within a process. It represents a single sequence of instructions that can be scheduled and executed by the CPU.

• Multiple threads can exist within a single process, sharing the same memory space and resources. Threads within the same process can communicate with each other and share data more efficiently than processes.

• Threads enable concurrent execution of tasks within a process, allowing for multitasking and parallelism.

• Threads are managed by the operating system's kernel, which schedules their execution on CPU cores and provides synchronization mechanisms for coordinating access to shared resources.

• Examples of threads include the main thread of a program, background threads performing I/O operations, and threads handling user interface interactions in graphical applications.

Goroutines (in the context of Go programming language):

• Goroutines are a concurrency mechanism in the Go programming language designed for writing concurrent programs with ease.

• A goroutine is similar to a thread in other programming languages but is managed by the Go runtime instead of the operating system.

• Goroutines are lightweight and have a smaller memory footprint compared to threads, allowing thousands or even millions of goroutines to run concurrently.

• Goroutines are multiplexed onto a smaller number of operating system threads, allowing efficient concurrent execution without consuming excessive system resources.

• Goroutines communicate and synchronize using channels, a built-in mechanism for safe communication between concurrent goroutines.

• Examples of goroutines include concurrent tasks such as processing web requests in a web server, handling concurrent I/O operations, and performing parallel computations.