Balkh University

Computer science Faculty

Technical Foundation of
Computer science-1 (TFCS-1)
Chapter 4: Thread

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Chapter 4: Threads

 Overview
 Multithreading Models
 Thread Libraries
 Threading Issues
 Operating System Examples
 Windows XP Threads
 Linux Threads

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Objectives

 To introduce the notion of a thread — a

fundamental unit of CPU utilization that forms the
basis of multithreaded computer systems

 To discuss the APIs for the Pthreads, Win32, and

Java thread libraries

 To examine issues related to multithreaded

programming

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Motivation

 Threads run within application

 Multiple tasks with the application can be
implemented by separate threads
 Update display
 Fetch data
 Spell checking
 Answer a network request
 Process creation is heavy-weight while thread
creation is light-weight
 Can simplify code, increase efficiency
 Kernels are generally multithreaded Nasratullah Walizada Balkh university 2023
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Single and Multithreaded Processes

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Benefits

 Responsiveness

 Resource Sharing

 Economy

 Scalability

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Multicore Programming

 Multicore systems putting pressure on programmers, challenges include:

 Dividing activities
 Balance
 Data splitting
 Data dependency
 Testing and debugging

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Multithreaded Server Architecture

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Concurrent Execution on a
Single-core System

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Parallel Execution on a Multicore System

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Multithreading Models

 Many-to-One

 One-to-One

 Many-to-Many

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Many-to-One
 Many user-level threads mapped to single kernel thread

 Examples:
 Solaris Green Threads
 GNU Portable Threads

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Many-to-One Model

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One-to-One
 Each user-level thread maps to kernel thread

 Examples
 Windows NT/XP/2000
 Linux
 Solaris 9 and later

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One-to-one Model

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Many-to-Many Model

 Allows many user level threads to be mapped to many kernel

threads

 Allows the operating system to create a sufficient number of

kernel threads

 Solaris prior to version 9

 Windows NT/2000 with the ThreadFiber package

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Many-to-Many Model

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Two-level Model
 Similar to M:M, except that it allows a user thread to be bound to kernel
thread

 Examples
 IRIX
 HP-UX
 Tru64 UNIX
 Solaris 8 and earlier

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Two-level Model

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Thread Libraries
 Thread library provides programmer with API for creating and managing
threads

 Two primary ways of implementing

 Library entirely in user space
 Kernel-level library supported by the OS

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Pthreads
 May be provided either as user-level or kernel-level

 A POSIX standard (IEEE 1003.1c) API for thread creation and

synchronization

 API specifies behavior of the thread library, implementation is up to

development of the library

 Common in UNIX operating systems (Solaris, Linux, Mac OS X)

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Pthreads Example

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Pthreads Example (Cont.)

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Win32 API Multithreaded C Program

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Win32 API Multithreaded C Program (Cont.)

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Java Threads

 Java threads are managed by the JVM

 Typically implemented using the threads model

provided by underlying OS

 Java threads may be created by:

 Extending Thread class

 Implementing the Runnable interface
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Java Multithreaded Program

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Java Multithreaded Program (Cont.)

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Thread Cancellation

 Terminating a thread before it has finished

 Two general approaches:

 Asynchronous cancellation terminates the target thread
immediately.
 Deferred cancellation allows the target thread to periodically
check if it should be cancelled.

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Signal Handling
 Signals are used in UNIX systems to notify a process that a
particular event has occurred.

 A signal handler is used to process signals

 Signal is generated by particular event
 Signal is delivered to a process
 Signal is handled

 Options:
 Deliver the signal to the thread to which the signal applies
 Deliver the signal to every thread in the process
 Deliver the signal to certain threads in the process
 Assign a specific thread to receive all signals for the
process
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Thread Pools
 Create a number of threads in a pool
where they await work

 Advantages:
 Usually slightly faster to service a
request with an existing thread than
create a new thread
 Allows the number of threads in the
application(s) to be bound to the
size of the pool

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Scheduler Activations

 Both M:M and Two-level models require communication to

maintain the appropriate number of kernel threads allocated
to the application

 Scheduler activations provide upcalls - a communication

mechanism from the kernel to the thread library

 This communication allows an application to maintain the

correct number kernel threads

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Lightweight Processes

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End of Chapter 4

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