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cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
modified 16-Sep-19 9:31am.
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It's bad enough that multithreaded code is nondeterministic.
I propose that it is also meta-nondeterministic: You can not even count on it to be non-deterministic
When you need it to be unpredictable, the scheduler will inexplicably run your timeslices the exact same way, even when threads are executing on different cores, and even reboot to reboot.
I'm stuck on creating an *example* simply because I cannot create a situation wherein two secondary threads appear to be in competition (with the third thread being the main application thread) on a dual core ESP32 running FreeRTOS. I can do it where one thread is in competition with the primary thread, but it's as if the scheduler is just a dog when it comes to scheduling between two threads on the same core or something. Grrr.
It's bizarre.
Real programmers use butterflies
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Threads are like fireflies. They tend to synchronize into repeated patterns. 
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Unless you need them to. 
Real programmers use butterflies
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I thought that was women and their...never mind.
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Hmm. No criticism here, just old fart woolgathering.
After a long time developing multithreaded applications (including UI's), I've come to some observations:
- Thinking "adding a separate thread" will fix a problem generally won't.
- If you pay attention to timeslices, you're doing it wrong.
- If threads care about sequence of execution, you are doomed to failure.
Sleep(0) to force a context switch in Windows is A Bad Idea.Sleep(n > 0) is even worse.- Indiscriminately adding synchronization primitives like critical sections, mutexes, semaphores, and so on without understanding what you're doing gives you a false sense of security.
- Modifying thread priorities is bad karma. Please don't.
Software Zen: delete this;
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You're not wrong at least in the general case, however:
1. This isn't about adding a separate thread in my case. I'm writing a library to allow you to use threads more easily than FreeRTOS otherwise lets you
2. This isn't true if you're writing a library that includes a threadpooler on a system with a primitive scheduler that's prone to starvation.
3. Threads don't care. Hell, my code doesn't care. But it's sure hard to demonstrate out of order execution and resyncing execution order for a *demo* when I can't get the execution order to scramble in the first place
4. Yeah, but this isn't windows, see also, craptastic scheduler
5. If you're doing that to force a context switch I'm not sure what's wrong with you. =)
6. Absolutely true. To that end my library provides you access to *none* of those.  Seriously though, it offers you a message passing system in the alternative
7. See also, craptastic scheduler
Real programmers use butterflies
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I honestly don't know which one to react with, so
![Rose | [Rose]](https://www.codeproject.com/script/Forums/Images/rose.gif)
Most schedulers lack self-control and need to be disciplined!
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honey the codewitch wrote: I propose that it is also meta-nondeterministic: You can not even count on it to be non-deterministic
I'd say they are non-deterministically deterministic...
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If I understand the docs[^] correctly, FreeRTOS is quite limited with regard to multi-core support. I am certainly no FreeRTOS expert, but the docs seems to say that it can multi task using a single core well enough, but if you want to use multiple cores you in for some serious programming …
Since you have been writing quite a bit about it lately, I was starting to get interested in the thing - a nice tiny core with SMP support would certainly interesting. Are you actually getting true concurrency with the thing, or is the scheduler just using one core at a time? That could certainly explain the deterministic behavior.
Espen Harlinn
Senior Architect - Ulriken Consulting AS
The competent programmer is fully aware of the strictly limited size of his own skull; therefore he approaches the programming task in full humility, and among other things he avoids clever tricks like the plague.Edsger W.Dijkstra
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I don't know if it's any kind of true or at least standardized SMP which is why I put it in quotes, but as long as it's compiled with it there are options like xTaskCreatePinnedToCore(). That said, I don't see them in that documentation. It appears that the documentation there might be out of date.
I can't profile it to determine what cores are really being utilized because while there are options where you can compile in profiling features like that, they are disabled for the ESP-IDF build, which is what I'm currently using, given my ESP_WROVER_KIT is sort of dependent on ESP-IDF, and I don't have say, an ARM based monster with JTAG debugging in the alternative. I'm left sort of having to trust the little OS more than I'd like.
That was one of the reasons I was hoping I'd get better results with this sample.
I *do* think it's using both cores based on my ability to create an idle priority thread on the second core and get spew back from it even when i spin a loop on the main core (causing the main core's idle thread to be starved), but I don't know how well it schedules, and I almost doubt it knows well enough to round robin threads across all cores. I'm not even sure offhand how to get the core count, and if I try to do the creation call pinned to a core that doesn't exist it crashes. 
I *am* getting true concurrency from the looks of it. It's just badly scheduled concurrency. We'll see how it bakes out when I start doing I/O heavy stuff with it, because that's really where you'd want to use this library anyway.
I'm about to release a new article that builds on the stuff i recently wrote, only (hopefully) not specific to the ESP32 this time, and has more stuff like threads and thread pooling added to it.
Real programmers use butterflies
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Quote: I am getting true concurrency from the looks of it.
Cool 
Quote: I'm about to release a new article that builds on the stuff i recently wrote, only (hopefully) not specific to the ESP32 this time, and has more stuff like threads and thread pooling added to it
I'll read it with great interest 
Espen Harlinn
Senior Architect - Ulriken Consulting AS
The competent programmer is fully aware of the strictly limited size of his own skull; therefore he approaches the programming task in full humility, and among other things he avoids clever tricks like the plague.Edsger W.Dijkstra
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Espen Harlinn wrote: If I understand the docs[^] correctly, FreeRTOS is quite limited with regard to multi-core support
ESP32 uses a modified version of FreeRTOS[^] with added symmetric multiprocessing support.
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Look up "lock convoying". It's a well-known problem with lock-based multithreading.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Use the overload that let's you specify a bool to indicate whether execution should be non-deterministic (default is false) 
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embar.k.adero’s spate of complaints got me wondering - what is the average age of cp users?
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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I'm 16.
Have been for almost thirty years.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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My dad was 29 as far back as I can remember.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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About 4 years ago, I got my mother a 50th anniversary card for her 29th birthday.
Software Zen: delete this;
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I'm currently averaging out at 32.9 (in Mars years)
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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49 here.
(Good grief, a serious answer  ).
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lol - his account has been closed.
That would make is age the square root of negative 1.
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excuse me, i always respected you. but with that statement ... you are accurately reflecting the arrogance of the high rep members
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wrote: excuse me, i always respected you. but with that statement ... you are accurately reflecting the arrogance of the high rep members
Try not to take anything or everything that is written so seriously or so literally.
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