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
 Operating Systems

Thread
light weight is threds

• Thread: a basic unit of CPU utilization; heavy weight is proccess

• It composes of:
» Program counter
process can devide to number of threads
» Set of registers
local data saved in stack » Stack savind address temprory adres

• A thread has its own thread ID.

• Thread shares the following items with other threads that are
created in the same process:
» code section
Chapter 2

» data section
» Other operating system resources

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 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 inside one program there are many threds

• 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
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.4 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
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• Multiple actions executing simultaneously

a) Heavyweight process (traditional process) Processes with
• Owns the resources single proccess multiple
subprocesses
• Passive element
b) Lightweight process (Thread)
• Uses CPU and scheduled for execution Proces with
multiple threads
• Active element
c) Multithreaded applications programs
• Contain several threads running at one time
• Same or different priorities
• Examples:
Chapter 2

– Web browsers and time-sharing systems

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Components of Threads vs. Process

each threads has these items

• Items shared by all threads in a process

Chapter 2

• Items private to each thread

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 Single and Multithreaded Processes
stack and rigister can not be shared by threads

Figure 4.1

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

Figure 4.2 Refer to page164-165

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.8 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Operating Systems

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
Chapter 2

will be created to service that request

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 4.1.2 Benefits
when on of the task stoped all the other tasks will be stop

■ 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 system can
assign a separate thread to each core

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
run program in a single core

■ Concurrent execution on single-core system:

■ Parallelism on a multi-core system:

multy core process

Figure 4.4

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 4.15 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 Operating Systems

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;
Chapter 3

– Note that actual parallel processing does not

occur;

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Interleaving

P1
P2

P3

Time
Chapter 3

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• Multiprocessor system:

– Overlapping and interleaving of

processes execution;

– Parallel processing sometime occurs;

P1
P2
Chapter 3

P3
Time
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• 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 (MS-
Chapter 3

DOS – no concurrency)
__________________________________
* Stalling, W. Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles (5th Edition). Prentice Hall. (2005)
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• 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);
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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.
Chapter 3

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Concurrent Programming

• Concurrent processing system

– One job uses several processors (multiprocessors)

– Executes sets of instructions in parallel

– Requires programming language and computer

system support
Chapter 3

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

Uniprocessor
(Sequential Computation)
Chapter 3

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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
A = T1 + T2
Chapter 3

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Uniprocessor
7 A (Sequential Computation)

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Multiprocessor
(Concurrent processing)

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

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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)

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EXAMPLE:

Screenshot from
MacBook Pro
Chapter 2

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Chapter 2 Operating Systems

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 EXERCISE
From Silberchatz, Operating System Concepts
Chapter 4 Exercises

❑ Odd number Matric card – 4.3, 4.5

❑ Even number Matric card – 4.2, 4.4

❑ Due date: Submit to e-learning 5 days after the

end of the lecture.

Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 3.30 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
 End of Chapter 4

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