// // In Exercises 84-91, we learned about Zig's Io interface for // concurrent execution: io.async(), Group, Select, and Futures. // Under the hood, the Threaded backend manages a pool of real // OS threads for you - including scheduling, cancellation, and // resource cleanup. // // But sometimes you need direct control over threads: // * Long-lived dedicated workers // * Specific stack sizes or thread counts // * Code that doesn't have an Io interface available // * Fine-grained synchronization patterns // // That's where std.Thread comes in. It gives you a raw OS thread // that you spawn, manage, and join yourself. No pool, no Futures, // no automatic cancellation - but full control. // // The following diagram roughly illustrates the difference between // the various types of process execution: // // // Synchronous Asynchronous // Processing Processing Multithreading // ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ // │ Thread 1 │ │ Thread 1 │ │ Thread 1 │ │ Thread 2 │ // ├──────────┤ ├──────────┤ ├──────────┤ ├──────────┤ Overall Time // └──┼┼┼┼┼───┴─┴──┼┼┼┼┼───┴──┴──┼┼┼┼┼───┴─┴──┼┼┼┼┼───┴──┬───────┬───────┬── // ├───┤ ├───┤ ├───┤ ├───┤ │ │ │ // │ T │ │ T │ │ T │ │ T │ │ │ │ // │ a │ │ a │ │ a │ │ a │ │ │ │ // │ s │ │ s │ │ s │ │ s │ │ │ │ // │ k │ │ k │ │ k │ │ k │ │ │ │ // │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ // │ 1 │ │ 1 │ │ 1 │ │ 3 │ │ │ │ // └─┬─┘ └─┬─┘ └─┬─┘ └─┬─┘ │ │ │ // │ │ │ │ 5 Sec │ │ // ┌────┴───┐ ┌─┴─┐ ┌─┴─┐ ┌─┴─┐ │ │ │ // │Blocking│ │ T │ │ T │ │ T │ │ │ │ // └────┬───┘ │ a │ │ a │ │ a │ │ │ │ // │ │ s │ │ s │ │ s │ │ 8 Sec │ // ┌─┴─┐ │ k │ │ k │ │ k │ │ │ │ // │ T │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ // │ a │ │ 2 │ │ 2 │ │ 4 │ │ │ │ // │ s │ └─┬─┘ ├───┤ ├───┤ │ │ │ // │ k │ │ │┼┼┼│ │┼┼┼│ ▼ │ 10 Sec // │ │ ┌─┴─┐ └───┴────────┴───┴───────── │ │ // │ 1 │ │ T │ │ │ // └─┬─┘ │ a │ │ │ // │ │ s │ │ │ // ┌─┴─┐ │ k │ │ │ // │ T │ │ │ │ │ // │ a │ │ 1 │ │ │ // │ s │ ├───┤ │ │ // │ k │ │┼┼┼│ ▼ │ // │ │ └───┴──────────────────────────────────────────── │ // │ 2 │ │ // ├───┤ │ // │┼┼┼│ ▼ // └───┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── // // // The diagram was modeled on the one in a blog in which the differences // between asynchronous processing and multithreading are explained in detail: // https://blog.devgenius.io/multi-threading-vs-asynchronous-programming-what-is-the-difference-3ebfe1179a5 // // Our exercise is essentially about clarifying the approach in Zig and // therefore we try to keep it as simple as possible. // Multithreading in itself is already difficult enough. ;-) // const std = @import("std"); pub fn main() !void { // This is where the preparatory work takes place // before the parallel processing begins. std.debug.print("Starting work...\n", .{}); // These curly brackets are very important, they are necessary // to enclose the area where the threads are called. // Without these brackets, the program would not wait for the // end of the threads and they would continue to run beyond the // end of the program. { // Now we start the first thread, with the number as parameter const handle = try std.Thread.spawn(.{}, thread_function, .{1}); // Waits for the thread to complete, // then deallocates any resources created on `spawn()`. defer handle.join(); // Second thread const handle2 = try std.Thread.spawn(.{}, thread_function, .{-4}); // that can't be right? defer handle2.join(); // Third thread const handle3 = try std.Thread.spawn(.{}, thread_function, .{3}); defer ??? // <-- something is missing // After the threads have been started, // they run in parallel and we can still do some work in between. var io_instance: std.Io.Threaded = .init_single_threaded; const io = io_instance.io(); try io.sleep(std.Io.Duration.fromMilliseconds(400), .awake); std.debug.print("Some weird stuff, after starting the threads.\n", .{}); } // After we have left the closed area, we wait until // the threads have run through, if this has not yet been the case. std.debug.print("Zig is cool!\n", .{}); } // This function is started with every thread that we set up. // In our example, we pass the number of the thread as a parameter. fn thread_function(id: usize) !void { var io_instance: std.Io.Threaded = .init_single_threaded; const io = io_instance.io(); try io.sleep(std.Io.Duration.fromMilliseconds(100 * @as(isize, @intCast(id))), .awake); std.debug.print("thread {d}: {s}\n", .{ id, "started." }); // This timer simulates the work of the thread. const work_time = 300 * ((5 - id % 3) - 2); try io.sleep(std.Io.Duration.fromMilliseconds(@intCast(work_time)), .awake); std.debug.print("thread {d}: {s}\n", .{ id, "finished." }); } // This is the easiest way to run threads in parallel. // In general, however, more management effort is required, // e.g. by setting up a pool and allowing the threads to communicate // with each other using semaphores. // // But that's a topic for another exercise.