Chapter 4: Threads

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Chapter 4: Threads
 4.1 Overview
 4.2 Multicore Programming
 4.3 Multithreading Models

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.2 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Introduction to threads
 A thread is a basic unit of CPU utilization, it is also called a light weight
process
 It comprises a thread ID, program counter, a register set, and a stack.
 It shares with other threads belonging to the same process its code section,
data section , and other operating system resources, such as open files and
signals.
 A thread behave like a process within a process
 It does not have its own PCB
 A traditional (or heavyweight process) process has a single thread of control.
 If a process has multiple threads of control, it can perform more than one task
at a time.

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 Threads

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 Threads Examples
 A web browser might have one thread display images or text while another thread
retrieves data from the network.
 A word processor may have a thread for displaying graphics, another thread for
responding to key strokes from the user, and a third thread for performing spelling
and grammar checking in the background.
 In certain situations , a single application may be required to perform several similar
task. E.g. A web server accepts client requests for web pages , images. Sound and
so forth.
 One solution is to have the server run as a single process that accepts requests.
When request receive it create separate process to service that request. (process
creation is time consuming and resource intensive).
 Solution is multithreaded server. When a request is made , server creates a new
thread to service the request and resume listening for additional requests.
 Finally most OS kernels are now multithreaded. Several threads operate in kernel ,
and each thread performs a specific task, such as managing devices , managing
memory , or interrupt handling.

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 Motivation
 Most modern applications are multithreaded
 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 method was in common use before threads became
popular. Process creation is heavy-weight while thread creation is light-
weight
 Can simplify code, increase efficiency
 Kernels are generally multithreaded, several threads operate in the kernel,
and each thread performs a specific task, such as managing devices,
managing memory, interrupt handling.

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 Multithreaded Server Architecture

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 Benefits
 Multithreading allows operating system to execute different threads
simultaneously.
 Responsiveness – multithreading in interactive application may allow continue
execution if part of process is blocked, especially important for user interfaces
 Resource Sharing – threads share resources of process, easier than shared
memory or message passing, the benefit of sharing code and data is that it
allows an application to have several different threads of activity within the same
address space.
 Economy – cheaper than process creation, thread switching lower overhead
than context switching
 Scalability – process can take advantage of multiprocessor architectures,
where threads may be running in parallel on different processing cores. A single
threaded process can run on only one processor, regardless how many are
available.

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.8 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Multicore Programming
 Single-CPU systems evolved into multi –CPU system
 a recent trend in system design is to place multiple computing cores on a
single chip.
 Multithreaded programming provides a mechanism for more efficient use of
these multiple cores and improve concurrency.
 Parallelism implies a system can perform more than one task simultaneously
,
 Concurrency supports more than one task making progress
 Single processor / core, scheduler providing concurrency
 Multicore or multiprocessor systems putting pressure on programmers,
challenges include:
 Dividing activities
 Balance
 Data splitting
 Data dependency
 Testing and debugging

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.9 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 4.3 Multithreading Models
 Threads may be handled at different levels. User level and at kernel
levels.
 User threads are implemented in user level libraries instead of system calls
the thread switching does not need to call operating system. It does not
cause interrupt to the kernel. The kernel knows nothing about user-level
threads. It manages user level threads as single threaded processes.
 Kernel level threads are supported within the kernel of the operating system.
All modern OS support kernel level threads.
 Ultimately a relationship must exist between user threads and kernel
threads.
 Many-to-One

 One-to-One

 Many-to-Many

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 Many-to-One

 Many user-level threads mapped to single

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 One-to-One
 Each user-level thread maps to kernel thread
 Creating a user-level thread creates a kernel thread
 More concurrency than many-to-one
 Number of threads per process sometimes
restricted due to overhead
 Examples
 Windows
 Linux
 Solaris 9

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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
 Many to one does not true
concurrency
 One-one provide greater concurrency
but the developer has to be careful
not to create too many threads within
an application.
 Many –many model suffers from
neither of these shortcomings.
 Solaris prior to version 9
 Windows with the ThreadFiber
package

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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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