Re: Are there plans for a multi-threaded Emacs?

[Ted Zlatanov]

On 05 Dec 2003, address@hidden wrote:

> Ted Zlatanov <address@hidden> writes:
> 
>    Plus, I am pretty sure that when an application uses N processors
>    instead of one (as Emacs might with true preemptive
>    multithreading)
> 
> perhaps you still don't understand the root problem: "true
> preemptive multithreading" requires a certain program architecture
> to take advantage of it (including but not limited to: how the
> functions are written, placement of data, access patterns to the
> data, external interface requirements).  if emacs does not have this
> particular nature, force-fitting it to make it so is a royal PITA.
> if you don't force-fit it, you will never get the true preemptive
> multithreading "experience".

You and Stefan are right, I generalized too much.  I meant a specific
type of application, and I think Emacs can be such.  I've given
several examples of cases where multithreading or any sort of
multitasking would help, and I've repeatedly explained why I think
lightweight threads instead of heavyweight threads would be better
(because of the tight coupling of applications and functions inside
Emacs).  I think preemptive threading in particular will be the most
useful implementation, but cooperative multithreading is a valid
solution as well.

Ted