From owner-freebsd-arch Thu Nov 4 14: 0:20 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Received: from ns1.yes.no (ns1.yes.no [195.204.136.10]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2711814C2B for ; Thu, 4 Nov 1999 14:00:17 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from eivind@bitbox.follo.net) Received: from bitbox.follo.net (bitbox.follo.net [195.204.143.218]) by ns1.yes.no (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA04887 for ; Thu, 4 Nov 1999 22:57:32 +0100 (CET) Received: (from eivind@localhost) by bitbox.follo.net (8.8.8/8.8.6) id WAA95137 for freebsd-arch@freebsd.org; Thu, 4 Nov 1999 22:57:31 +0100 (MET) Received: from alcanet.com.au (border.alcanet.com.au [203.62.196.10]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B978D14C2B for ; Thu, 4 Nov 1999 13:57:05 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jeremyp@gsmx07.alcatel.com.au) Received: by border.alcanet.com.au id <40325>; Fri, 5 Nov 1999 08:51:19 +1100 Content-return: prohibited Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 08:56:49 +1100 From: Peter Jeremy Subject: Re: Threads goals version III In-reply-to: <199911041804.LAA18253@usr06.primenet.com> To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Reply-To: peter.jeremy@alcatel.com.au Message-Id: <99Nov5.085119est.40325@border.alcanet.com.au> MIME-version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Mutt 1.0pre3i Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii References: <199911041804.LAA18253@usr06.primenet.com> Sender: owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On 1999-Nov-05 05:04:17 +1100, Terry Lambert wrote: >1) A means of allowing programmers to build procedural > soloutions instead of state machines. > > This is really a programmer convenience, for programmers > who know how to write linear code, but don't know how to > do finite state automata, I think that's being a bit unfair. One problem with FSA's is that following their internal logic can sometimes be substantially more difficult than following an equivalent linear control flow. This makes than more difficult to write and check - and increases the maintenance costs. >1) SMP scalability IMHO, this is going to rise in importance over time - and probably become the predominant reason for writing threaded code. It's becoming more and more difficult to make single processors faster, so fast machines will increasingly rely on multiple processors. >Julian has asked me several times to write up my threading model; >he's seen it on a white board, and I've been able to address all >of his concerns regarding it there. The rest of us would also like to see it. Peter To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-arch" in the body of the message