OS Thread

Definitions

1. A kernel-managed thread of execution that shares its process's address space but has its own stack, register state, and scheduling priority. OS threads are preemptively scheduled by the kernel, making them heavier than green threads or coroutines — typically requiring ~1–8 MB of stack and a context switch costing several microseconds.

   In plain English: A basic unit of work managed by the operating system that can run alongside other threads, sharing the same program's memory.

   Example: "We're spawning 10,000 goroutines but Go multiplexes them onto just a handful of OS threads, so we don't blow up the kernel scheduler."

Related Terms

• Fiber
• Task
• Work Stealing
• IPC
• Multi-Threading
• Preemptive Scheduling
• Scheduler
• Shared Library
• Shared Memory
• Spawning
• Time Slice