Threading is how an application or system handle more than one task at one. For example, you can copy files, empty the trash, and browse your hard drive all simultaneously in the Finder because each of these tasks is carried out in a separate "thread." However, there are many areas in OSX where there is not enough threading. Some operations have very little multithreading; thus, only one task can take place. For example, if you use QiuckTime Player to export a movie, you can't do *anything* else with that app because there is a single thread (the exporting sequence) working away that doesn't allow for other activity. If it was threaded better, you could export a movie and play another one while the first is exporting.
Multithreading generally helps responsiveness in any app and allows you to do more things at once.
OS X is already multithreaded to an extent, but not as much as it probably should be. Some of the "spinning disc" incidents occur because an application is waiting on a single thread to process. If it had better multithreading, that stalling may not have occurred.
It's actually a very complex process. I hope this explanation makes sense and I haven't muddled everything here too bad... I'm actually rather sleep-deprived right now and I can probably give a better explanation later tomorrow.
<strong>Fear the Jedi threading powers of BeOS.</strong><hr></blockquote>Ah, but one of the reasons big developers didn't flock to Be was that Be *forced* you to have an extraordinarily high level of threading, IIRC, in a way that certain apps simply couldn't easily be completely rewritten.
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Multithreading generally helps responsiveness in any app and allows you to do more things at once.
OS X is already multithreaded to an extent, but not as much as it probably should be. Some of the "spinning disc" incidents occur because an application is waiting on a single thread to process. If it had better multithreading, that stalling may not have occurred.
It's actually a very complex process. I hope this explanation makes sense and I haven't muddled everything here too bad... I'm actually rather sleep-deprived right now and I can probably give a better explanation later tomorrow.
[ 05-07-2002: Message edited by: starfleetX ]</p>
<strong>Fear the Jedi threading powers of BeOS.</strong><hr></blockquote>Ah, but one of the reasons big developers didn't flock to Be was that Be *forced* you to have an extraordinarily high level of threading, IIRC, in a way that certain apps simply couldn't easily be completely rewritten.