GATE CS 2017 Set 2 Q.7 (CS Q.7): Processes, Threads and System Calls

Which of the following is/are shared by all the threads in a process?

I. Program counter
II. Stack
III. Address space
IV. Registers

I and II only

III only

IV only

II and IV only

Official answer and solution

Official answer: B
From: Official GATE 2017 answer key

Solution

Differentiate between process-level resources (shared among threads) and thread-specific resources (private to each thread).

In a multithreaded process:

Address space: All threads of a process share the same virtual address space, including code (text), global/static data, and heap. Thus, III is shared.
Program counter (PC): Each thread executes instructions independently and requires its own program counter. Thus, I is private to each thread.
Stack: Each thread needs its own call stack to manage local variables, return addresses, and function activation records. Thus, II is private to each thread.
Registers: Each thread maintains its own processor register state when scheduled or context-switched. Thus, IV is private to each thread.

Among the options, only the address space (III) is shared by all threads in the process. This matches option B.

Final answer

Common trap

Assuming stack is shared because threads can technically access each other's memory via pointers; each thread is allocated its own distinct logical stack.

The answer is the one in the official GATE answer key. The solution is this site's own explanation.

Source

Paper: GATE 2017 Computer Science and Information Technology (CS) Session 2
Question: 7 of 65, printed as CS Q.7
Section: Computer Science and Information Technology

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