Thread

Thread

1. A strand of cotton, wool, fibre etc that can be used with sewing or weaving.

2. In an application a thread represents a means of allowing sections of code to be executed in parallel with other code sections within the same process.

When an application is executed there will initially have only a single thread. The application can then create separate threads that run in parallel until they complete (or are terminated by the application). Each thread executes within the same context as the main process - so they share the same memory space and run within the same operating system process. If an application is terminated then all of its threads cease with it.

Threads can only be used on operating systems that support them, which includes all modern operating systems. Early operating systems such as DOS and CP/M did not support threads.

Also known as a multi-threading, light weight process (lwp).

3. A train of thought or series of messages in a conversation. In newsgroups a thread is the set of messages that all relate to the same subject. A thread therefore contains the discussion on an individual topic.