Chapter 4: Threads

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Chapter 4: Threads

■ 1.1 Overview
■ 1.2 Multicore Programming

OBJECTIVES
■ To introduce the notion of a thread—a fundamental unit of
CPU utilization that forms the basis of multithreaded computer
systems

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.2 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Thread
• Thread: a basic unit of CPU utilization;
• It composes of:
» Program counter
» Set of registers
» Stack

• A thread has its own thread ID.

• Thread shares the following items with other threads that are
created in the same process:
» code section
» data section
» Other operating system resources
 4.1.1 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 is heavy-weight while
thread
creation is light-weight
■ Can simplify code, increase efficiency
■ Kernels are generally multithreaded Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.4
• Multiple actions executing simultaneously
Processes with
a) Heavyweight process (traditional process) multiple
• Owns the resources subprocesses
• Passive element
b) Lightweight process (Thread)
Proces with
• Uses CPU and scheduled for execution multiple threads
• Active element
c) Multithreaded applications programs
• Contain several threads running at one time
• Same or different priorities
• Examples:
– Web browsers and time-sharing systems
Components of Threads vs. Process

• Items shared by all threads in a process

• Items private to each thread
 Single and Multithreaded Processes

Figure 4.1

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.7 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Multithreaded Server Architecture

Figure 4.2

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.8 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Applications
• Use by many software packages that run on modern desktop
PCs.

Word Processor a thread for displaying graphic, another

thread for reading keystrokes
Web browser one thread displays image or text, while
another thread retrieves data from the
network
Web server when server receives a request, a thread
will be created to service that request
 4.1.2 Benefits
■ Responsiveness – may allow continued 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.

■ Economy – cheaper than process creation,

thread
switching lower overhead than context switching.

■ Scalability – process can take advantage of multiprocessor

architectures.

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.10 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 4.2 Multicore Programming
■ Multi-CPU systems. Multiple CPUs are placed in
the computer to provide more computing
performance.
■ Multicore systems. Multiple computing cores are placed on
a single processing chip where each core appears as a
separate CPU to the operating system
■ Multithreaded programming provides a mechanism for more
efficient use of these multiple computing cores and improved
concurrency.
■ Consider an application with four threads.
 On a system with a single computing core, concurrency
means that the execution of the threads will be interleaved
over time.
 On a system with multiple cores, however, concurrency
means that some threads can run in parallel, because the
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.11 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Multicore Programming (Cont.)
■ There is a fine but clear distinction between concurrency
and parallelism.

■ A concurrent system supports more than one task by

allowing all the tasks to make progress.

■ In contrast, a system is parallel if it can perform more

than one task simultaneously.

■ Thus, it is possible to have concurrency without

parallelism

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.12 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Multicore Programming (Cont.)
■ Types of parallelism
 Data parallelism – distributes subsets of the
same data across multiple cores, same operation
on each
 Task parallelism – distributing threads across
cores, each thread performing unique operation

■ As number of threads grows, so does architectural

support for threading
 CPUs have cores as well as hardware threads
 Consider Oracle SPARC T4 with 8 cores, and 8
hardware threads per core

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.13 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Multicore Programming
■ Multicore or multiprocessor systems are placing pressure
on programmers. Challenges include:
 Dividing activities
 Balance
 Data splitting
 Data dependency
 Testing and debugging
■ 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
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.14 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Concurrency vs. Parallelism
■ Concurrent execution on single-core system:

■ Parallelism on a multi-core system:

Figure 4.4

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.15 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Concurrency
• In a uniprocessor multiprogramming system:

– Execution of processes / threads are interleaved

in time to yield the appearance of simultaneous
execution;

– Known as concurrent processes / threads

execution;

– Note that actual parallel processing does not

occur;
 Interleavin
g

P1

P2

P3
Tim
e
 • Multiprocessor system:

– Overlapping and interleaving of

processes execution;

– Parallel processing sometime

occurs;

P1
Chapter 3

P2

P3
 • Concurrency arises / occurs in three different contexts*:

Multiple • Multiprogramming was invented to

applications allow processing time to be
dynamically shared among a
number of active applications.
Structured • Application can be a set of concurrent
application processes.
Operating-system • Operating system is a set of
structure processes or threads.
• Example: Solaris and Linux
Chapter 3

(MS- DOS – no concurrency)

* Stalling, W. Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles (5th Edition). Prentice Hall. (2005)
 • Interleaving and overlapping execution of
processes can be viewed as examples of
concurrent processing;
 Need control synchronization and data access
synchronization (Chapter 6).

• Both present the same problems such as in sharing

global resources. Example:

– Global variables;
– Shared files or data bases;
Chapter 3

– Managing the allocation of resources optimally such

as the request use of a particular I/O device (may
lead to deadlock);
 Another Example of Concurrency

• Two or more threads need access to a shared

resource that must be used by only one thread
at a time
– Eg. When one thread is writing to a file, a second
thread must be prevented from writing to the file at
the same time.
 Concurrent Programming

• Concurrent processing system

– One job uses several processors (multiprocessors)

– Executes sets of instructions in parallel

– Requires programming language and computer

system support
 Applications of Concurrent
Programming
A = 3 * B * C + 4 / (D + E) ** (F – G)

Uniprocessor
(Sequential Computation)
A = 3 * B * C + 4 / (D + E) ** (F – G)

Steps Operation
1 A = 3 * B * C + 4 / (D + E) ** T1
2 A = 3 * B * C + 4 / T2 ** T1
3 A = 3 * B * C + 4 / T1
4 A = 3 * B * C + T2
5 A = T1 * C + T2
6 A = T1 + T2
A Uniprocessor
7 (Sequential Computatio n)
 Multiprocessor (Concurrent
processing)

Chapter 3 A = 3 * B * C + 4 / (D + E) ** (F – G)
 1 2 3

A = 3 * B * C + 4 / (D + E) ** (F – G)

Steps Processor Operation

1 1 A = T1 * C + 4 / (D + E) ** (F-G)
2 A = T1 * C + 4 / T2 ** (F-G)
3 A = T1 * C + 4 / T2 ** T3
2 1 A = T4 + 4 / T2 ** T3
2 A = T4 + 4 / T5
Chapter 3

3 1 A = T4 + T1
Multiprocessor
4 1 A (Concurrent processing)
EXAMPLE:

Screenshot from
MacBook Pro
 End of Chapter 4

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013