Multiple choice

A thread is usually defined as a ‘light weight process’ because an operating system (OS) maintains smaller data structures for a thread than for a process. In relation to this, which of the followings is TRUE?

  1. On per-thread basis, the OS maintains only CPU register state.

  2. The OS does not maintain a separate stack for each thread.

  3. On per-thread basis, the OS does not maintain virtual memory state.

  4. On per thread basis, the OS maintains only scheduling and accounting information.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

A thread is called lightweight because it shares most resources with other threads in the same process. The OS maintains CPU register state separately for each thread (for context switching). Options B and C are wrong because each thread DOES have its own stack and virtual memory state is maintained. Option D is wrong because the OS maintains more than just scheduling info.

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