Multitasking and Multithreading With Real World Example
Multitasking
Multitasking is a technique where multiple tasks, also known as processes, share common processing resources such as CPU, Memory etc. With a multitasking OS, such as Windows XP, you can simultaneously run multiple applications. Multitasking refers to the ability of the OS to quickly switch between each task to give the opportunity to execute multiple actions simultaneously on different applications.
As CPU clock speeds have increased steadily over time, not only do applications run faster, but OSs can switch between applications more quickly. This provides better overall performance. Many actions can happen at once on a computer, and individual applications can run faster.
In single processor system, only one task runs at any point in time, meaning that the CPU is actively executing instructions for that task. Multitasking solves this problem by scheduling which task may run at any given time and when another waiting task gets a turn.
Multithreading
Multithreading extends the idea of multitasking into applications, so you can subdivide specific operations within a single application into individual threads. Each of the threads can run in parallel. The OS divides processing time not only among different applications, but also among each thread within an application.
You can prioritize each of these threads so that they operate independently. Thus, in multithreaded applications, multiple tasks can progress in parallel with other applications that are running on the system.
Applications that runs on multithreading have some benefits:
More efficient use
Improved performance
Better system reliability
In a single-threaded application, a synchronous call effectively blocks, or prevents, any other task within the application from executing until the operation completes. Multithreading prevents this blocking.
While the synchronous call runs on one thread, other parts of the program that do not depend on this call run on different threads. Execution of the application progresses instead of stalling until the synchronous call completes. In this way, a multithreaded application maximizes the efficiency of the CPU because it does not idle if any thread of the application is ready to run.
Now a days Operating systems supports multithreading and may be with single processor or multi processor. On multi processor systems applications runs more faster as threads are processed by both the processor.
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