From owner-freebsd-threads@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jul 15 01:29:39 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-threads@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6559737B401 for ; Tue, 15 Jul 2003 01:29:39 -0700 (PDT) Received: from HAL9000.homeunix.com (ip114.bella-vista.sfo.interquest.net [66.199.86.114]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9071343F93 for ; Tue, 15 Jul 2003 01:29:38 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from das@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from HAL9000.homeunix.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by HAL9000.homeunix.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h6F8TCLv034805; Tue, 15 Jul 2003 01:29:12 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from das@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: (from das@localhost) by HAL9000.homeunix.com (8.12.9/8.12.9/Submit) id h6F8TASL034804; Tue, 15 Jul 2003 01:29:10 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from das@FreeBSD.ORG) Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 01:29:10 -0700 From: David Schultz To: Terry Lambert Message-ID: <20030715082910.GA34696@HAL9000.homeunix.com> Mail-Followup-To: Terry Lambert , Nate Williams , freebsd-threads@FreeBSD.org, 'Kai Mosebach' , Chris Knight References: <007601c3467b$5f20e960$020aa8c0@aims.private> <004d01c348ae$583084f0$812a40c1@PETEX31> <16146.65087.69689.594109@emerger.yogotech.com> <3F13B1B4.8765B8F3@mindspring.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <3F13B1B4.8765B8F3@mindspring.com> cc: Nate Williams cc: Chris Knight cc: 'Kai Mosebach' cc: freebsd-threads@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: LinuxThreads replacement X-BeenThere: freebsd-threads@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Threading on FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 08:29:39 -0000 On Tue, Jul 15, 2003, Terry Lambert wrote: > > ps. Yes, the above was written tongue-in-cheek. People who make broad > > statements like Terry often makes deserve to have their statements > > thrown back at them. Threads, like any other tool used by programmers, > > can be used for both good and evil purposes, depending on the ability > > and experience of the programmer doing the work. [...] > Yes, this is somewhat mitigated by the fact that it's easier to write > threads code than an FSA, such that a lesser coder is still able to > be productive. As a class, it's a tool I would lump in with things > like "perl". Actually, event-based programming is usually easier, since it does not require synchronization. A number of people, myself included, think that threads are overused, and often used incorrectly. But as Nate pointed out, threads are useful for many purposes, the most fundamental of which are SMP scalability and reduced latency. Also, threads are simply the natural programming model for many applications. For instance, you wouldn't rewrite the FreeBSD kernel to use one thread per processor with an event loop and L4-style continuations, would you?