Difference Between Program and Process in Operating System

Program

• A program is a system activity that uses a set of instructions to perform a designated task.
• It is considered a passive entity as it resides on secondary memory.
• The resource requirement is less as it only requires memory for storage.
• The program performs tasks that are directly related to the operations of a user.

For example, notepad.exe is an executable file having a set of instructions that helps users to print and edit text files. When the user executes the program, it converts into the process.

Process

• A process is an executing instance of a program.
• In other words, the process is a program in execution
• A process is entirely dependent on the program
• It is considered an active entity as it resides on the primary memory. (RAM)
• It requires resources like processing, memory address, CPU, input and output resources to perform the task.

For example, a user can run multiple instances of Microsoft Word program.