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2 January 2023

Process Vs Program | Difference | Comparison

An instance of a computer program is being run by the process. It includes the program's code and its running state. A program is a collection of guidelines that a computer may follow to carry out a certain activity. It could refer to a group of files that include the data and instructions needed by the computer to run a program. Let us discuss some more Process Vs Program with the help of the comparison given below.

What is the process?

A program is an executable file that has a set of instructions inside it that your computer may use to carry out a particular activity. For instance, the instructions required to browse websites are contained in the executable file chrome.exe. Text files may be edited and printed using a set of instructions found in an executable file named notepad.exe. Programs are not retained in the main memory of your computer. They are stored on a disk or in the secondary memory of your computer. After reading them into the main memory, the kernel executes them. A program is sometimes referred to as a passive entity since it is kept in secondary memory.

Learn more Web site Vs Web application

What is the program?

A program by itself is not a process. A program is a passive object, such as a file on a disk that includes a collection of instructions and is sometimes referred to as an executable file. A process is an active entity with a set of related resources and programs and a program counter that indicates the next instruction to be executed. As soon as an executable file is put into memory, a program becomes a process. 

Process Vs Program | Difference between process and program:

  • A program has a collection of instructions designed to accomplish a certain task. While a process is an example of an execution program.
  • The process is an active entity. While the program is a passive entity.
  • The process has a limited lifespan. While the program has a much higher lifespan.
  • The parent process must be duplicated in the new process. There is not much duplication required during the program.
  • The process has a high resource requirement and it requires including CPU, memory address, disk, and input/output during its lifetime. While the program doesn't have any resources required, it only needs memory space to store the instruction. 
  • To obtain and calculate a single fact, the procedure requires a lot of time. while the program has no computation time and cost. 
  • The process has considerable overhead. While the program has no significant overhead cost.
  • The process holds resources including CPU, disk, memory address, input/output etc. While the program is stored on a disk in a file and doesn't need any additional resources.
  • Proces may use the cache to store the retrieve the data as it uses an OS paging scheme and cache replacement policies like FCFS, LRU, RR, and LIFO. While the program has the instruction to use a cache for its data. 
Thanks for reading the article. Still, if you have any questions or queries in your mind on the difference between Process and Program then please ask us in the comment section below.

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