http://www.mapleprimes.com/posts/36535-Parallel-Programming-Blog-Feedback en-us 2026 Maplesoft, A Division of Waterloo Maple Inc. Maplesoft Document System Tue, 09 Jun 2026 21:11:02 GMT Tue, 09 Jun 2026 21:11:02 GMT The latest comments added to the Post, Parallel Programming Blog Feedback http://www.mapleprimes.com/images/mapleprimeswhite.jpg http://www.mapleprimes.com/posts/36535-Parallel-Programming-Blog-Feedback http://www.mapleprimes.com/posts/36535-Parallel-Programming-Blog-Feedback?ref=Feed:MaplePrimes:Parallel Programming Blog Feedback:Comments#comment62571 <p>I think that it would be useful to delineate the current status and restrictions of Theads in Maple.</p> <p>For example,</p> <ul> <li>What makes a Maple code routine Thread-unsafe? (There are lots of ways to cause global effects, so a clear list would help. <a href="http://www.mapleprimes.com/blog/dohashi/threadsafety">This</a> earlier post doesn't make it clear, sorry.)</li> <li>What low-level Library routines are Thread-unsafe (eg. <b>limit</b>, <b>is</b>, <b>signum</b>, etc). These routines might not be usable inside one's own Threaded code.</li> <li>What blocks all Threads? (eg. garbage collection? object uniquification in the kernel? Other?) These would affect performance, and create bottlenecks possibly unavoidable at present.</li> <li>What actions can occur in only one Thread at a time? (eg. external calling to Maple's own auxiliary external compiled libraries? external calling to a Compiler:-Compile'd routine?) I mean what actions block other Threads from doing the same thing, not what is Thread-safe.</li> <li>Can two Threads write to two different embedded components, with interleaved timing? Is Typesetting Thread-safe, for that?</li> <li>The debugger status was mentioned in <a href="http://www.mapleprimes.com/blog/dohashi/loadbalancingandthreadmanagement#comment-28668">another</a> post.</li> </ul> <p>The question of Thread-safety of the Maple Library is very tricky. There may be a characterization of what is currently, typically Thread-safe, for example along the lines of a symbolic vs numeric distinction. People are going to want to write Threaded code which is not simply plain arithmetic and use of kernel built-ins. But a lot of symbolic Library code is not Thread-safe, and a lot of numeric Library code might call externally (and block duplicated external lib access). Characterizing what sort of code be successfully Threaded would be very useful. Revising such a description with each released improvement would also help.</p> <p>acer</p> The latest comments added to the Post, Parallel Programming Blog Feedback 62571 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:29:57 Z acer acer http://www.mapleprimes.com/posts/36535-Parallel-Programming-Blog-Feedback?ref=Feed:MaplePrimes:Parallel Programming Blog Feedback:Comments#comment62572 I really liked the series! The latest comments added to the Post, Parallel Programming Blog Feedback 62572 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:48:19 Z roman_pearce roman_pearce http://www.mapleprimes.com/posts/36535-Parallel-Programming-Blog-Feedback?ref=Feed:MaplePrimes:Parallel Programming Blog Feedback:Comments#comment62573 <p>Me too!</p> <p>I hope there are more installments to come. I have some projects that could utilize threads. I am just waiting for time to be able to put these ideas into play.</p> <p>Doug</p> <pre> --------------------------------------------------------------------- Douglas B. Meade &lt;&gt;&lt; Math, USC, Columbia, SC 29208 E-mail: mailto:meade@math.sc.edu Phone: (803) 777-6183 URL: http://www.math.sc.edu</pre> The latest comments added to the Post, Parallel Programming Blog Feedback 62573 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:43:38 Z Doug Meade Doug Meade http://www.mapleprimes.com/posts/36535-Parallel-Programming-Blog-Feedback?ref=Feed:MaplePrimes:Parallel Programming Blog Feedback:Comments#comment62574 <p>This is a bit of a non-answer, but I've been waiting for a decent chunk of time to carefully read these posts.&nbsp; Why?&nbsp; Because they look like they were carefully composed, and contain non-trivial technical material, so I ought to read them carefully (as opposed to my recent skimming of MaplePrimes material).</p> <p>So why bother with this comment at all?&nbsp; Because I really think it's great that there is solid material on MaplePrimes which requires serious reading.&nbsp; I'm just sad that I am having a hard time getting around to doing the reading!</p> The latest comments added to the Post, Parallel Programming Blog Feedback 62574 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:53:01 Z JacquesC JacquesC http://www.mapleprimes.com/posts/36535-Parallel-Programming-Blog-Feedback?ref=Feed:MaplePrimes:Parallel Programming Blog Feedback:Comments#comment62575 <p>I've enjoyed the posts too.</p> <p>I suspect that <a href="http://www.maplesoft.com/support/help/Maple/view.aspx?path=multithreaded">multithreading</a> could become one of the Great Ways to improve Maple performance, both for &quot;users' code&quot; and for Maple's own Library.</p> <p>Even with speedup that is linear (as a function of cores) it is appropriate to start now on what is clearly very difficult underpinning development, even if the average number of cores does not reach the hundreds for some years.</p> <p>nb. Other Great Ways include use of the <a href="http://www.maplesoft.com/support/help/Maple/view.aspx?path=Compiler/Compile">Compiler</a> (another technology that deserves enhancement), producing less <a href="http://www.maplesoft.com/support/help/Maple/view.aspx?path=gc">garbage</a>, and reducing computational complexity.</p> <p>acer</p> The latest comments added to the Post, Parallel Programming Blog Feedback 62575 Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:46:12 Z acer acer http://www.mapleprimes.com/posts/36535-Parallel-Programming-Blog-Feedback?ref=Feed:MaplePrimes:Parallel Programming Blog Feedback:Comments#comment62576 <p>I enjoyed it.</p> <p>GPU is an interesting topic. Is there a way to use it from Maple?</p> <p>As far as I understand the current situation, with code in Maple language being 500-1000 slower than, say, in C, it doesn't have much sense to use parallel programming for Maple code other than for some worksheet effects - such as displaying the time spent while a procedure is running, or returning some partial results while a procedure is continuing - other than those that could be done using print. It would be interesting to see an example of that.</p> <p>Alec</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> The latest comments added to the Post, Parallel Programming Blog Feedback 62576 Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:54:02 Z alec alec