What is the difference between a thread of execution and a process in an operating system?

A process is an instance of a running program that has its own address space, resources (files, network connections, etc.), and system handles. A thread of execution is a unit of execution within a process that shares memory and resources with other threads of the same process but has its own call stack and CPU registers.

Main differences:

• Processes are isolated from each other, each with its own memory.
• Threads within a single process share memory and resources, which allows for more efficient data exchange but requires synchronization.

Example: a browser is a process, and tabs can be implemented as threads within it.