As a process executes it changes its state. The state of a process is defined in part by the current activity of that process. A process may be in one of the following states.
- New : The process is being created.
- Running : Instructions are being executed.
- Waiting : The process is waiting for some event to occur.
- Ready: The process is waiting to be assigned to a processor.
- Terminated: The process has finished execution.
The state diagram gives you the detailed understanding on how the process changes its state.