From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Ted Zlatanov Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Are there plans for a multi-threaded Emacs? Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 07:06:06 -0500 Organization: =?koi8-r?q?=F4=C5=CF=C4=CF=D2=20=FA=CC=C1=D4=C1=CE=CF=D7?= @ Cienfuegos Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <4n1xrjxydt.fsf@lockgroove.bwh.harvard.edu> References: <87oevbes4h.fsf@emacswiki.org> <20031117040607.C6C5D79B72@server2.messagingengine.com> <87ekvpx18d.fsf@emptyhost.emptydomain.de> <4nad6cikxy.fsf@holmes.bwh.harvard.edu> <4nllpt3hr3.fsf@lockgroove.bwh.harvard.edu> <5bad69zd43.fsf@lister.roxen.com> <4noeuon378.fsf@lockgroove.bwh.harvard.edu> <5bptf4ebw8.fsf@lister.roxen.com> <4nu14ggwvq.fsf@lockgroove.bwh.harvard.edu> <5bd6b4dw8t.fsf@lister.roxen.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1070626810 31540 80.91.224.253 (5 Dec 2003 12:20:10 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2003 12:20:10 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Fri Dec 05 13:20:07 2003 Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1ASEwJ-0006yI-00 for ; Fri, 05 Dec 2003 13:20:07 +0100 Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1ASEwJ-0002Ni-00 for ; Fri, 05 Dec 2003 13:20:07 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.24) id 1ASFss-0004QR-Ea for emacs-devel@quimby.gnus.org; Fri, 05 Dec 2003 08:20:38 -0500 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.24) id 1ASFj7-0000nR-F5 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 05 Dec 2003 08:10:33 -0500 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.24) id 1ASFhl-0008Vx-8t for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 05 Dec 2003 08:09:40 -0500 Original-Received: from [80.91.224.249] (helo=main.gmane.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.24) id 1ASFhX-00088X-0w for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 05 Dec 2003 08:08:55 -0500 Original-Received: from list by main.gmane.org with local (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1ASEk5-00062i-00 for ; Fri, 05 Dec 2003 13:07:29 +0100 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ Original-To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-Received: from sea.gmane.org ([80.91.224.252]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1ASEk3-00062a-00 for ; Fri, 05 Dec 2003 13:07:27 +0100 Original-Received: from news by sea.gmane.org with local (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1ASEk3-0007oY-00 for ; Fri, 05 Dec 2003 13:07:27 +0100 Original-Lines: 23 Original-X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org X-Face: bd.DQ~'29fIs`T_%O%C\g%6jW)yi[zuz6; d4V0`@y-~$#3P_Ng{@m+e4o<4P'#(_GJQ%TT= D}[Ep*b!\e,fBZ'j_+#"Ps?s2!4H2-Y"sx" User-Agent: Gnus/5.1003 (Gnus v5.10.3) Emacs/21.3.50 (usg-unix-v) Cancel-Lock: sha1:hc70yS4Y099ninGD+uYaXIVN1so= X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2 Precedence: list List-Id: Emacs development discussions. List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:18410 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:18410 On Fri, 05 Dec 2003, mast@lysator.liu.se wrote: > Reading or writing are blocking operations, so they would be > executed in parallel anyway. Right, but if the read or write don't need to block the UI thread, why should they? Take for example auto-save files. When I'm editing a large document on a NFS filesystem, Emacs often will pause completely while auto-saving the document. If a separate thread or process could auto-save the document while I could keep working, that would be very nice. It wouldn't add new functionality, but it would improve the user experience. > This is actually an argument against fine grained locking too: When > much code contend for the same resources and those are covered by > many small locks, much time will be spent in context switching due > to outlocking. Yes, this is why Solaris is so slow on single-processor machines also. Fine-grained locking exacts a baseline penalty. Multi-threading may need to be a completely separate branch of Emacs, if it ever happens. Ted