Process
A process is a program in execution. Process is not as same as program code but a lot more than it. A process is an 'active' entity as opposed to program which is considered to be a 'passive' entity. Attributes held by process include hardware state, memory, CPU etc.
Process memory is divided into four sections for efficient working :
- The text section is made up of the compiled program code, read in from non-volatile storage when the program is launched.
- The data section is made up the global and static variables, allocated and initialized prior to executing the main.
- The heap is used for the dynamic memory allocation, and is managed via calls to new, delete, malloc, free, etc.
- The stack is used for local variables. Space on the stack is reserved for local variables when they are declared.