Threads and Concurrency

Threads are a fundamental part of modern operating systems and are used to enable concurrency, which is the ability of a computer to perform multiple tasks at the same time. A thread is a separate execution path within a process, which means that a process can have multiple threads running concurrently. Each thread has its own stack, program counter, and set of registers, which allows it to execute independently from other threads within the same process. Threads are used to improve the performance of a computer system by allowing multiple tasks to be executed simultaneously, which can take advantage of multi-core processors and other hardware resources. Concurrency is important for improving the responsiveness and performance of software programs, particularly those that involve a lot of waiting or blocking, such as network applications or user interfaces.