Multi Threading Patterns Flashcards
What is the Reader-Writer Lock pattern?
The Reader-Writer Lock pattern addresses scenarios with frequent read operations and occasional write operations on shared data.
What are Readers in the context of the Reader-Writer Lock pattern?
Readers are threads that access and potentially modify a copy of the shared data without altering the original data.
What are Writers in the context of the Reader-Writer Lock pattern?
Writers are threads that modify the original shared data requiring exclusive access to ensure data integrity.
What challenge does the Reader-Writer Lock pattern address?
It efficiently manages concurrent read and write access while avoiding conflicts.
What are the use cases for the Reader-Writer Lock pattern?
It is ideal for situations where read access significantly outweighs write access such as implementing caching systems or managing key-value stores.
What is the Active Object pattern?
The Active Object pattern decouples task submission (request) from task execution (processing) by introducing a layer of active objects.
What is the main thread responsible for in the Active Object pattern?
The main thread is responsible for handling user interaction and overall application flow.
What are Active Objects in the context of the Active Objects pattern?
Active Objects act as intermediaries between the main thread and tasks encapsulating task execution logic and managing concurrent processing.
What scenarios benefit from the Active Object pattern?
It is beneficial for scenarios where tasks need to be submitted asynchronously or delegated for remote processing such as implementing asynchronous processing frameworks or designing distributed systems.
What real-life example illustrates the Active Object pattern?
Consider an online movie streaming service where users submit requests (play a movie). The Active Object pattern efficiently processes these requests without affecting the main user interface.
What is the Barrier Point?
A specific point in the program execution where all threads in a group must arrive before any can proceed further.
What does the Barrier pattern ensure?
The Barrier pattern ensures that threads within a group wait at the barrier point until all threads reach that point allowing them to proceed together to the next stage.
What are the use cases for the Barrier pattern?
The pattern is useful for coordinating tasks that require collective actions or data exchange among all threads. Examples include implementing parallel algorithms where all threads must finish processing data before aggregating results and coordinating tasks that depend on the completion of a set of activities by multiple threads such as in scientific simulations running on multiple processors.
Can you provide a real-life example of the Barrier pattern?
Think of a scientific simulation running on multiple processors (threads). The Barrier pattern ensures all processors finish calculations on one step before moving on to the next step guaranteeing accurate results. It’s like a virtual checkpoint in the race ensuring all participants (threads) arrive before the next leg of the simulation begins.
What is the Producer-Consumer pattern?
The Producer-Consumer pattern involves two types of threads: producers that generate data and consumers that process it. They communicate through a shared buffer.
