Task (computing): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:39, 29 February 2016

Revision as of 02:38, 17 September 2016

Line 3:

[[File:Thread pool.svg|thumb|400px|A sample [[thread pool]] (green boxes) with [[task queue]]s of waiting '''tasks''' (blue) and completed '''tasks''' (yellow), in the sense of task as "unit of work".]]

In [[computers|computing]], a '''task''' is a unit of [[execution (computing)|execution]] or a unit of work. The term is ambiguous; more precise alternative terms include ''[[process (computing)|process]]'', ''[[thread (computing)|thread]]'' (for execution), or ''step'', ''[[request–response|request]]'', or ''query'' (for work). In the diagram at right, there are [[task queue|queues]] of incoming work to do and outgoing completed work, and a [[thread pool]] of threads to perform this work. Either the work units themselves or the threads that perform the work can be referred to as "tasks", and these can be referred to respectively as requests/responses/threads, incoming tasks/completed tasks/threads (as illustrated), or requests/responses/tasks.

==Terminology==