A thread is the smallest unit of execution within a process. It is a sequence of programmed instructions that can be managed independently by a scheduler, which is typically part of the operating system.
In computing, threads allow a program to perform multiple operations simultaneously. Each thread in a process shares the process’s resources, such as memory and file handles, but executes independently. Threads are useful for performing tasks that can be executed concurrently, improving the efficiency and performance of applications, especially those that handle I/O operations, complex computations, or need to maintain responsiveness.