Process

In all of our writing we have used the term process, to mean a program which has an assigned location counter and an address space. A program is merely a pattern of bits stored in some file. A new process is created only by an already existing process. The previous process must execute an atomic operation (forc, attach, etc.) to cause such a creation. Processes may either cause their own demise or be terminated by another (usually superior) process.

The above definition corresponds to the definition given by Vyssotsky, et al on pp. 206, 207 of "Structure of the Multics Supervisor" in the FJCC proceedings, 1965.

Because a process may create another process, and because in general the two processes are indistinguishable when viewed externally, I know of no reasonable way for two processes to request connection directly with each other. The function of sockets is to provide a standard interface between processes.