Re: [boost] [defer/thread_pool] - added again to boost vault

From: Simon Meiklejohn (simon.meiklejohn_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-08-13 21:28:39

 <Oliver.Kowalke <at> qimonda.com> writes:

> because on the user list a library which allows reuse of threads was
> requested I've added the defer library, originally developed by Simon
> Meiklejohn, to the boost vault (concurrent programming - I don't know
> why it was removed?).

I removed the library myself - i hadn't detected much active interest
(sorry if i got that wrong) and an unusually selective reset of 
download counters triggered a paranoid response. Happy to see it back
up, and willing to assist ongoing development if required.

I can't help thinking that the toolkits on top of threading could
be unified somehow - after all they all contain ways of executing
'units of work' on some kind of 'execution context' (of which threads
and thread pools form examples) subject to conditions (e.g. 
restrictions on concurrency, serialisation order). An explicit
separation of concepts at this level of abstraction seems useful
in terms of recombination into higher level libraries (e.g. ASIO and
statechart, futures) and also useful in their own right. Seems 
analogous to the STL separation of algorithms/iterators/containers
which has been deemed a good thing.

Simon