Threads in Operating System
(OS)
A thread is a single sequential flow of execution of tasks of a process
so it is also known as thread of execution or thread of control. There
is a way of thread execution inside the process of any operating
system. Apart from this, there can be more than one thread inside a
process. Each thread of the same process makes use of a separate
program counter and a stack of activation records and control
blocks. Thread is often referred to as a lightweight process.
The process can be split down into so many threads. For example,
in a browser, many tabs can be viewed as threads. MS Word uses
many threads - formatting text from one thread, processing input
from another thread, etc.
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Need of Thread:
It takes far less time to create a new thread in an existing
process than to create a new process.
Threads can share the common data, they do not need to use
Inter- Process communication.
Context switching is faster when working with threads.
It takes less time to terminate a thread than a process.
Types of Threads
In the operating system, there are two types of threads.
1. Kernel level thread.
2. User-level thread.
User-level thread
The operating system does not recognize the user-level thread. User
threads can be easily implemented and it is implemented by the user.
If a user performs a user-level thread blocking operation, the whole
process is blocked. The kernel level thread does not know nothing
about the user level thread. The kernel-level thread manages user-
level threads as if they are single-threaded processes?examples:
Java thread, POSIX threads, etc.
Advantages of User-level threads
1. The user threads can be easily implemented than the kernel
thread.
2. User-level threads can be applied to such types of operating
systems that do not support threads at the kernel-level.
3. It is faster and efficient.
4. Context switch time is shorter than the kernel-level threads.
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5. It does not require modifications of the operating system.
6. User-level threads representation is very simple. The register,
PC, stack, and mini thread control blocks are stored in the
address space of the user-level process.
7. It is simple to create, switch, and synchronize threads without
the intervention of the process.
Disadvantages of User-level threads
1. User-level threads lack coordination between the thread and the
kernel.
2. If a thread causes a page fault, the entire process is blocked.
Kernel level thread
The kernel thread recognizes the operating system. There is a thread
control block and process control block in the system for each
thread and process in the kernel-level thread. The kernel-level
thread is implemented by the operating system. The kernel knows
about all the threads and manages them. The kernel-level thread
offers a system call to create and manage the threads from user-
space. The implementation of kernel threads is more difficult than
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the user thread. Context switch time is longer in the kernel thread. If
a kernel thread performs a blocking operation, the Banky thread
execution can continue. Example: Window Solaris.
Advantages of Kernel-level threads
1. The kernel-level thread is fully aware of all threads.
2. The scheduler may decide to spend more CPU time in the
process of threads being large numerical.
3. The kernel-level thread is good for those applications that block
the frequency.
Disadvantages of Kernel-level threads
1. The kernel thread manages and schedules all threads.
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2. The implementation of kernel threads is difficult than the user
thread.
3. The kernel-level thread is slower than user-level threads.
Components of Threads
Any thread has the following components.
1. Program counter
2. Register set
3. Stack space
Benefits of Threads
Enhanced throughput of the system: When the process is
split into many threads, and each thread is treated as a job, the
number of jobs done in the unit time increases. That is why the
throughput of the system also increases.
Effective Utilization of Multiprocessor system: When you
have more than one thread in one process, you can schedule
more than one thread in more than one processor.
Faster context switch: The context switching period between
threads is less than the process context switching. The process
context switch means more overhead for the CPU.
Responsiveness: When the process is split into several
threads, and when a thread completes its execution, that
process can be responded to as soon as possible.
Communication: Multiple-thread communication is simple
because the threads share the same address space, while in
process, we adopt just a few exclusive communication
strategies for communication between two processes.
Resource sharing: Resources can be shared between all
threads within a process, such as code, data, and files. Note:
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The stack and register cannot be shared between threads.
There is a stack and register for each thread.
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