Shared Memory Programming Pthreads

Dr Matthew Grove Slides: http://people.cs.vt.edu/~mjeg/

Slide credits: Dr B. Wilkinson and Blaise Barney

August 24, 2011

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Lecture Goals
! Shared memory, threads and processes ! Basic Pthreads ! Thread safety
!Race conditions !Critical sections !Locks

! More advanced Pthread techniques

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Shared Memory + Multi-Processor

! Any memory location can be accessed by any of the processors. ! There is a single address space with each memory location given a unique address. ! Because a program can access shared memory you do not have to use message passing exchange data.

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Shared Memory Programming

! Generally more convenient although it does require access to shared data by di!erent processors to be carefully controlled by the programmer. ! Shared memory systems have been around for a long time but with the advent of multi-core systems, it has become very important to able to program for them.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/400466/parallel_programming_skills_crisis_could_stall_server_evolution
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Techniques
! Heavyweight processes. ! Threads. Example Pthreads, Java threads. ! New programming language for parallel programming - not popular. Example Ada. ! Modifying the syntax of an existing sequential programming language to create a parallel programming language. Example UPC. ! Using an existing sequential programming language supplemented with compiler directives and libraries for specifying parallelism. Example OpenMP.
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Heavyweight Processes
! Operating systems are often based upon the notion of a process. ! Processor time is shared between processes, switching from one process to another. This might occur at regular intervals or when an active process becomes delayed. ! Concept can be used for parallel programming. Not much used because of overhead. Threads are preferred.

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Threads vs Processes

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Thread Summary
! Exists within a process and uses the process resources. ! Has own independent ow of control as long as its parent process exists and the OS supports it. ! Duplicates only the essential resources it needs to be independently schedulable. ! May share the process resources with other threads that act equally independently. ! Dies if the parent process dies. ! Is "lightweight" because most of the overhead of creating the thread occurs when the process starts.
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Thread vs Process - Create

Source: https://computing.llnl.gov/tutorials/pthreads/fork_vs_thread.txt
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Memory Bandwidth

Source: https://computing.llnl.gov/tutorials/pthreads/
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Pthreads
! Historically vendors provided their own thread libraries. ! The adopted standard for Unix was created by the IEEE and called POSIX 1003.1c (1995). ! Any implementation of this standard is referred to as POSiX Threads or Pthreads.

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Simple Pthread Programming

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Detached Threads

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Basic Pthread Methods

pthread_create( thread, /* Unique identier for thread */ attr, /* Attributes like detached state */ routine, /* Method to execute after creation */ arg) /* Arguments for thread function */ ! ! pthread_join( thread_id, /* Thread to wait for */ status) /* Exit status of thread */ ! !

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Pthreads Hello World

#include <pthread.h> #include <stdio.h> void * entry_point(void *arg){ printf("Hello world!\n"); return NULL; } int main(int argc, char **argv){ pthread_t thr; if(pthread_create(&thr, NULL, &entry_point, NULL)){ printf("Could not create thread\n"); return -1; } if(pthread_join(thr, NULL)){ printf("Could not join thread\n"); return -1; } return 0; }
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Compiling Hello World

! Out of the box most compilers can build your Pthread program. ! Gcc example: ! gcc -Wall -lpthread -o hello hello.c ! The -l ag species a library to link against. Because pthreads is a system library, gcc will automatically nd it for you. ! -Wall tells gcc to warn you about any non fatal mistakes.
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Exiting a Thread
! The thread will exit naturally after the thread start routine returns. ! Thread itself calls pthread_exit. ! Another thread calls pthread_cancel. ! The process itself exits.

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Execution Order
! On a single processor a thread will typically execute until it is blocked. ! For multi-processor the threads execution can be interleaved in time. ! Unless you are guaranteeing execution order then you can not assume anything about it.

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Interleaved Execution
! Consider two threads which print sentences to the terminal. ! The characters being printed will also be interleaved making garbled sentences print to the screen. ! T0: -> The weather is nice. ! T1: -> I am going to the shops. ! Output: Th I e wam geatheoing to thr ie shs nice. ops.
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Thread Safe Routines

! Standard IO functions are thread safe so the messages are not printed with interleaved characters. ! Special care can be taken when writing functions such that even when called by multiple threads simultaneously they will produce the correct results. ! The programmer must determine if a routine is thread safe and take care of it. In general, assume everything is not thread safe.

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Accessing Shared Data

! The programmer must carefully control access to shared data. ! Consider two processes which both increment the variable X:

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Race Conditions

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Critical Sections
! Critical sections provide a way to make sure only one process accesses a resource at a time. ! The critical section is the code that accesses the resource. They must be arranged such that only one section can be executed at a time. ! This mechanism is known as mutual exclusion.

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Locks
! A lock is the simplest mechanism for ensuring mutual exclusion of critical sections. ! It can only have two values: ! 1 - a process has entered the critical section. ! 0 - there is no process in the critical section. ! To enter the critical section you must acquire the lock. ! On leaving the critical section you release the lock. This is done by changing the value back to 0.

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Acquiring the Lock

! It must be guaranteed that only one thread can acquire the lock. ! This C code is not adequate:
if (lock == 0) { // lock is free lock = 1; }

! Multiple threads could be executing the if statement simultaneously.

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Pthread Lock Routines

! Use mutually exclusive lock variables, also called mutex variables.
pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex1); critical section pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex1);

! A thread will wait until it can acquire the lock. If multiple threads are waiting, only one will be picked to receive the lock when the lock is available. Only one thread will ever be able to acquire the lock. Only the thread that locked the mutex can unlock it.
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Critical Sections Slow Down

! Critical sections have the e!ect of serializing code execution. ! High performance programs should aim to limit the number of critical sections. ! Suppose every process reaches a critical section at the same time. The processes must wait and execute the critical sections in sequence. ! In this situation you may see parallel code become slower than the serial version.

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Serialization Example

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Deadlock
! Deadlock can occur when two processes both require a resource currently held by the other.

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Circular Deadlock
! Deadlock can also occur in a circular fashion with several holding a resource required by another.

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Pthread Try-Lock Method

! Pthreads provides a method to test if a lock is being held without blocking the thread.
pthread_mutex_trylock() ! !

! This method will return an EBUSY status if the mutex is currently locked. If the mutex is not locked it will lock it. This might help overcome a deadlock situation but it is still requires careful code design.

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General Semaphores
! Pthread primitives can be used to create more complex routines. ! The general semaphore (or counting semaphore) can store an integer in a thread safe way. ! Can be used to track available resources such as work available in a queue. ! Available in thread libraries for languages such as Java but do not exist in vanilla Pthreads. ! You can however write your own using the Pthread methods.
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Condition Variables
! Often a decision about when to execute a critical section is made using some kind of global condition. ! For example if a total has reached a certain point. ! This could be achieved by locking and unlocking a variable in order to check it. This kind of polling is very costly. ! Condition variables o!er a solution.

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Condition Variables
! Thread 1: ! Lock mutex and check value of a global variable. ! Call pthread_cond_wait() to perform a blocking wait for a signal. pthread_cond_wait() automatically unlocks the associated mutex variable. ! Thread 2: ! Lock mutex. ! Change global counter. ! If counter has reached the value needed by thread 1 it calls pthread_cond_signal(). ! Unlock the mutex. ! Thread 1: ! Wake up when received signal. ! Mutex is automatically locked again.
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! Explicitly unlock the mutex.

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Condition Variables
Thread 1 Thread 2

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Breaking Condition Variables

Thread 1 Thread 2

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Monitor Methods
! A programming technique for providing thread safety. ! Wrap shared resources in an access procedure which uses some kind of lock to prevent concurrent calls by multiple threads.
monitor_update_foo(var){ lock(c); ... //Update foo here ... unlock(c); } August 24, 2011 ! !
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Race Example
#include <pthread.h> #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #define NTHREADS 100 #define LOOPS 10000 int sum = 0; pthread_mutex_t sum_mutex; void *do_work() { int i; pthread_mutex_lock(&sum_mutex); for (i=0; i<LOOPS; i++) sum = sum + 1; pthread_mutex_unlock(&sum_mutex); pthread_exit(NULL); } ...

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...
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { int i; pthread_t threads[NTHREADS]; pthread_attr_t attr; pthread_mutex_init(&sum_mutex, NULL); pthread_attr_init(&attr); pthread_attr_setdetachstate(&attr, PTHREAD_CREATE_JOINABLE); for (i=0; i<NTHREADS; i++) pthread_create(&threads[i], &attr, &do_work, NULL); for (i=0; i<NTHREADS; i++) pthread_join(threads[i], NULL); printf("Thread sum: %d\n", sum); sum=0; for (i=0;i<NTHREADS * LOOPS;i++) sum = sum + 1; printf("Check sum: %d\n",sum); pthread_attr_destroy(&attr); pthread_mutex_destroy(&sum_mutex); pthread_exit(NULL);
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Demo
! ...

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Homework
! Compile hello world for Pthreads. ! Assign each thread a unique number and make it print the number. ! Synchronize the threads such that they always print their number in ascending order.
I am I am I am I am ... thread thread thread thread 0 1 2 3

! Do not use other libraries - do it with Pthreads!

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