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What are processes vs threads?

xAIMachine Learning Engineer · Online Assessment
MediumMachine Learning EngineerOnline AssessmentSoftware Engineering Fundamentals

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This question evaluates understanding of concurrency concepts—processes versus threads—including memory/address-space management, shared-memory versus inter-process communication, performance trade-offs for CPU-bound versus I/O-bound workloads, and failure/isolation implications such as crash containment.

Question

Explain the difference between multiprocessing and multithreading in the context of building concurrent applications.

Cover the following:

  • What a process is vs what a thread is
  • How memory/address space is managed in each
  • Communication patterns (shared memory vs IPC)
  • Typical performance trade-offs (CPU-bound vs I/O-bound)
  • Common failure/isolation implications (crash containment)
  • Give 1–2 concrete examples of when you would choose each approach