Lightweight Thread
Noun · Development
Definitions
A thread of execution managed by the language runtime rather than the operating system kernel, using far less memory (often just a few KB of stack) and allowing millions to run concurrently. Examples include Go goroutines, Erlang processes, Java virtual threads, and Kotlin coroutines.
In plain English: A very cheap, runtime-managed unit of work that lets programs handle millions of tasks at once without the overhead of traditional operating system threads.
Example: "We spawn a lightweight thread per connection — with goroutines, a million concurrent connections only costs a few gigs of RAM."