Re: [boost] [gsoc-2013] Boost.Thread/ThreadPool project

Subject: Re: [boost] [gsoc-2013] Boost.Thread/ThreadPool project
From: Vicente J. Botet Escriba (vicente.botet_at_[hidden])
Date: 2013-04-29 14:23:42

Le 29/04/13 17:40, Niall Douglas a écrit :
>>> I'm not ruling out the merit of a Boost.Thread threadpool. For me
>>> personally though, the hurdle is very significantly raised: you need
>>> to strongly prove to me why your proposed thread pool is much superior
>>> to a Boost.ASIO based threadpool. Otherwise I will zero score the GSoC
>>> proposal, because in the end we need other proposed projects more.
>> This is your right,  but I don't know how the fact you can write easily
> the thread
>> pool you need to diminish a generic thread pool working well with futures.
>> [snip]
>> Hopping this helps you to understand the project I'm looking for.
> There are many ways systemically of implementing futures. The way you and
> Anthony have taken to date is a non-intrusive approach such that futures
> stand alone. This is great for not forcing design onto third parties and is
> a decentralised POSIX-y approach, but it comes with significant performance
> and memory costs because it's hard to get standalone, non-intrusive futures
> to batch themselves without sacrificing performance.
>
> An alternative approach is to assume a central dispatcher/event loop which
> can optimize then() chaining because it knows of all futures and their
> relationships currently in flight (this is a much more centralized statist
> NT-y approach, and it you can see that philosophy clearly in Microsoft's
> N3428). You can see an example of this approach to implementing future
> chaining with multiple dependencies which extends Boost.ASIO in
> https://github.com/ned14/TripleGit/blob/master/triplegit/include/async_file_
> io.hpp#L785. I also went ahead and implemented N3428's when_all() which
> returns a future chained to multiple input futures, not that I claim the
> implementation mature yet.
>
> My concern with Boost.ThreadPool right now is that it could get in the way
> of the latter approach. I have zero objection to a formulation which
> embraces both approaches, but when you ask why a thread pool isn't in the
> standard, I think it's because until we've fixed futures implementation and
> all the composibility and chaining we're sure we need, and made sure that
> interops smoothly with the forthcoming TR2 networking proposal, then and
> only then is it wise to proceed with threadpool design.
>
> All that said, this is purely a cautious opinion of mine. You're one of the
> Boost.Thread maintainers, so I happily defer to your judgment on this. If
> you think we need a threadpool now, you'll find no opposition from me.
>
>
Hi again,

I was not aware that there was a AFSIO GSoC project as described here 
https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/wiki/SoC2013#Boost.ASIO and that this 
project propose also thread pool. I understand better now your concerns.

I have no problem at all if there is only student that works on a thread 
pool proposal, but I think the approaches are quite different and so it 
will be worth to have students fr both projects.

Nest,
Vicente