Threads on AS/400

The term thread is shorthand for "thread of control." A thread is the path taken by a program while running, the steps performed, and the order in which the steps are performed. A thread runs code from its starting location in an ordered, predefined sequence for a given set of inputs.

All programs have at least one thread. In a program with multiple threads, each thread runs its code independently of the other threads in the program.

A process is the container for the memory and resources of the program. On AS/400 systems, a job represents a process. Each process has at least one thread (task) in which the program runs its code. The first thread in a process is referred to as the initial thread. Some processes are capable of supporting additional threads, which are called secondary threads.