Updated April 7, 2023
Difference Between Program vs Process
In this article, we will see an outline of Program vs Process. Program is the set of instructions that are arranged in the defined sequence to perform a particular task. the program generally resides in secondary memory (hard disk) and is comparatively larger. the process is a passive entity. The program under the execution is known as a process, each process is managed inside the main memory (RAM) and control and executed by using the microprocessor. each process has some properties such as process state, process id, program counter, stack pointers registers, accounting data, memory limits, etc. all this process information contains by the process control block. when the process performs the transition change in its state (context switching) operating system update this information in the process control block. the process is the active entity.
Head to Head Comparison between Program vs Process (Infographics)
Below are the top 13 comparisons between Program vs Process:
Key differences between Program vs Process
Let us discuss some key differences between Program vs Process in the following points:
1. A program and process both are related terms from each other, the lifespan of the program is longer than the process, it is considered as a system activity in the batch operating system it is called sequential executing instruction/jobs while in the real-time operating system it is called program.
2. User can run multiple programs parallel in the operating system the terms refer to programming operating system in which the operating system manages its program-related activity such as memory management, cache management, etc.
3. A program is considered as a passive entity, in the operating system, for example, a batch file or executable file contains an ordered set of instruction/commands for performing any specific task, It is called passive because it does not perform any action by itself, it needs to execute the instruction one by one to get the specific task done.
4. For executing the program operating system allocates the memory to it. the address space of the program composed the address for instruction, data, and pointers. for eg. if P is the program the operating system will allocate the memory to P (before execution) and will explore the P’s address space then the operating system will schedule the execution of the p program and allocates the resource.
5. (file input/output, external access information), The CPU is not always executing instructions of program P; in fact, the operating system made the CPU schedule to shares the CPU among the execution of program P and executions of other programs. (which are executing parallel).
6. The process is known as a program that is under execution, It is considered as an active entity and realizes/implement the task for which the instructions are written into a program. Multiple processes can be referred to by one program. all these process activities handled by the operating system through PCB (Process Control Block) which includes a program counter, process id, process state, etc, switching information (when process switch the execution control among the process). Program counter stores the upcoming order of instruction that is to be executed upon completion or later by the program.
7. The process involves some external and internal resources for processing, such as registers, memory, and I/O resources to achieve and manage the process task. During the execution of a program, it occupies processor or me/O operation which makes a difference between program and process.
8. For example; in a java program. when we write a program in a file, it is just a script, set of commands and instructions which does not perform any action, but when we execute this program it turns into single or multiple processes hence process it dynamically in nature, resource sharing among the process is accomplished by context switching through the processor, a single processor is distributed among multiple processes and responsible for executing the process in a distributed manner.
9. A program is a countable set of ordered and sequential instructions/operations/commands that needs to be executed to accomplish some action. On the other hand, an instance of a program that is currently being executed is a process.
Comparison Table of Program vs Process
The table below summarizes the comparisons between Program vs Process:
| Program | Process |
| A program is a set of sequential ordered operations to accomplish a programming goal. | Executing part of the program is known as a process. |
| Program is generally static. | Process is generally dynamic. |
| The program needs memory (primary/secondary) for storage. | The Resource requirement is high for the process. |
| There is no duplication needed in the case of the program. | A new sub/child process requires replication/duplication of their parent process. |
| A program is stored on disk (secondary memory) or in it contains by some file for eg. batch script and does not require any other resources. | Process captures resources like CPU, memory(primary), address, disk, I/O, etc and sometimes it produces deadlock situations. |
| A program needs memory space on the disk to store all instructions. | A process occupies many resources like memory, disk, mouse, keyboard, and other external devices. |
| The nature of the program is passive, does not do anything until it gets executed by allocating the resource. | The process is an instance of the program executed. |
| Program has no computation time and cost. | Process has considerable single fact access and computation time. |
| Program can be optimized to reduce the execution time and process. | Process is a singleton entity and the execution depends on the processor. |
| Deadlock creation and prevention depend on the program. | Deadlock condition process stucks and waits for the resource consumed by the process which is waiting for the resource holding by the previous process. |
| Program can control the memory resources and data needs to be used by memory. | Process and its information can be controlled by process control block (PCB). |
| Program cannot be decomposed or divided further and there is no such threshing in the program. | The process can be further decomposed into the thread which is a part or instance of the single process. |
| Program can contain the instruction to use cache for its data. | Process can use cache to store and retrieve the data as it uses operating system paging scheme and cache replacement policy such as FCFS, LIFO, LRU, RR. |
Conclusion
Program and process are related terminologies with each other but it is not similar, A program is just a script or file contains ordered and sequential operation and stored on disk it is similar as a previous stage of the process. the process is the event that is generated by executing the process, a program which is being executed to generate the event known as a process.
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