There is a reasonable discussion of how threading and fork differ technically and philosophically at Threads vs Forking (Java vs Perl). In that discussion KM came out with Mr. Peabody Explains fork() which is a very good starting place if you just want to understand what fork is and why it was invented. (In fact I recommend reading it before my link.)

In reply to Re (tilly) 3: Thread vs. Fork by tilly
in thread Thread vs. Fork by deadkarma

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