From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: What's the problem? Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2003 10:17:03 -0500 Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Message-ID: References: <4nllpt3hr3.fsf@lockgroove.bwh.harvard.edu> <5bad69zd43.fsf@lister.roxen.com> <4noeuon378.fsf@lockgroove.bwh.harvard.edu> <4ny8tsgxy6.fsf@lockgroove.bwh.harvard.edu> <4nhe0ggv0u.fsf@lockgroove.bwh.harvard.edu> <4nk75bwjaf.fsf@lockgroove.bwh.harvard.edu> <4nsmjv8d32.fsf@collins.bwh.harvard.edu> <87iskpbloe.fsf@mail.jurta.org> Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1AVBbO-0001en-00 for ; Sat, 13 Dec 2003 16:22:42 +0100 Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1AVBbO-000873-00 for ; Sat, 13 Dec 2003 16:22:42 +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 1AVCVP-0004ke-Fw for emacs-devel@quimby.gnus.org; Sat, 13 Dec 2003 11:20:35 -0500 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.24) id 1AVCVK-0004js-61 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 13 Dec 2003 11:20:30 -0500 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.24) id 1AVCUn-0004Vr-CS for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 13 Dec 2003 11:20:28 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.164] (helo=fencepost.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.24) id 1AVCUm-0004V7-QX for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 13 Dec 2003 11:19:56 -0500 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.24) id 1AVBVv-0006vo-L6; Sat, 13 Dec 2003 10:17:03 -0500 Original-To: Miles Bader In-reply-to: (message from Miles Bader on 12 Dec 2003 12:57:54 +0900) 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:18669 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:18669 I'm not sure why people keep talking about threading as some way to make emacs faster -- speed is not a major problem in general, and those places where it _is_ (e.g., gnus summary generation) don't seem easily parallizable. As far as I can see, threads are desirable mostly because they allow the user to keep working while something's happening in the background (since typical emacs task are very non-cpu-intensive, the background task probably won't slow down appreciably either). I basically agree; however, there is one other possible use for multi-threading in Emacs. This is for the sake of using multiple terminals at once. Right now, I think, only one terminal can use the minibuffer. Only one terminal can be running a command. If each terminal had its own thread, they could do just about anything in parallel.