Can someone briefly explain what multi-threading is and what it does.
Thanks in Advance,
Runningbear
Thanks in Advance,
Runningbear
What is multi-threading?
- Thread starter Runningbear
- Start date
A thread is a sequence of things which are done in order - the way most "traditional" programs operate. A thread executes its program code statement by statement, in the way we all expect it to. However, if a system has many threads running, one thread may be suspended and execution switched to another. Eventually (we hope), the original thread will be resumed. From the viewpoint of the thread, nothing has changed - it resumes execution exactly at the point it stopped.
A program which splits up into several threads is said to be multi-threading. All the threads are working on the same task - doing whatever it is the program is designed to do. Well designed GUI programs (for systems such as Windows, MacOS and X-Windows) are multi-threading. If redrawing the screen takes a long time, they will process mouse and keyboard operations in mid-draw, resuming or restarting the drawing process when they have finished processing the input.
A program which splits up into several threads is said to be multi-threading. All the threads are working on the same task - doing whatever it is the program is designed to do. Well designed GUI programs (for systems such as Windows, MacOS and X-Windows) are multi-threading. If redrawing the screen takes a long time, they will process mouse and keyboard operations in mid-draw, resuming or restarting the drawing process when they have finished processing the input.
Here are two key points from the Hyper-Threading article:
"HT will not offer noticeable performance gains, however, for non-computationally intensive applications, such as spreadsheets, word processing, or e-mails, which represent the vast majority of applications used by the average Joe consumer. In short, applications will not see performance gains until the HT processor is pushed hard and the application in use employs multiple threads."
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"The maximum 25% improvement in performance will be measured by standard benchmarks, such as frames/ second for graphics applications."
With that said, there are additional ways to enhance even that speed which involve multiple processors and more functional video cards. But without special program instructions/operations considerations from the software vendor arena, not much will be evident to the average user.
"HT will not offer noticeable performance gains, however, for non-computationally intensive applications, such as spreadsheets, word processing, or e-mails, which represent the vast majority of applications used by the average Joe consumer. In short, applications will not see performance gains until the HT processor is pushed hard and the application in use employs multiple threads."
----------------
"The maximum 25% improvement in performance will be measured by standard benchmarks, such as frames/ second for graphics applications."
With that said, there are additional ways to enhance even that speed which involve multiple processors and more functional video cards. But without special program instructions/operations considerations from the software vendor arena, not much will be evident to the average user.
I've been thinking about a new computer to help with the demands that TS puts on my current box. I was thinking of going with a dual cpu. Does TS support multi-threading?
Anyone?
Anyone?
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12289&highlight=multithreading
Interesting thread on multithreading.
Interesting thread on multithreading.
Quote from canyonman00:
Here are two key points from the Hyper-Threading article:
.....
With that said, there are additional ways to enhance even that speed which involve multiple processors and more functional video cards. But without special program instructions/operations considerations from the software vendor arena, not much will be evident to the average user.
FYI ..... We have a variety of hardware and OS combinations running. On dual processor Intel boxes that support "hyperthreading" technology the gains that we see are largely with floating point operations. For our specialized applications this type of gain is important. The average user would probably not get enough value for the price premium and could get away with older technology processors coupled with more memory.
