Difference Between Program and Process in tabular form
Contents
Comparison Between Program and Process
The Major Difference Between Program and Process is that A program is a set of instructions. and A process is a program in execution.
Comparison Chart
| PROGRAM | PROCESS |
|---|---|
| A program is a set of instructions. | A process is a program in execution. |
| A program is a passive/ static entity. | A process is an active/ dynamic entity. |
| A program has a longer life span. It is stored on disk forever. | A process has a limited life span. It is created when execution starts and terminated as execution is finished. |
| A program is stored on a disk in some file. It does not contain any other resource. | A process contains various resources like memory address, disk, printer, etc… as per requirements. |
| A program requires memory space on a disk to store all instructions. | A process contains a memory address which is called address space. |
| Longer Lifespan | Limited Lifespan |
Process
- The process is a program under execution.
- It is an instance of an executing program, including the current values of the program counter, registers & variables.
- The process is an abstraction of a running program.