Looking for multiproc demo video

March 30, 2007 5:53 AM

I'm looking for a demo video of how a multiproc system handles processes and switching for a Intro to CS class.

I'm teaching a portion of class as part of a student project, and I'd like to have a short 1-2 minute demo of how a multiproc system would coordinate multiple processes, having no luck searching Google, any format would work for me. Thanks in advance! :)

posted by tjbarrett to computers & internet (3 comments total)

You should probably look into NUMA. You will find plenty of videos, but the relationship between those videos and process scheduling is kind of obscure. More on multiprocessing.

If your processes have a common memory pool, it is easy enough to use semaphores when you need to synchronize processes. Otherwise, the entire point of a multi processor system is that you want processes to execute asynchronously.
posted by b1tr0t at 6:50 AM on March 30, 2007

You want to read up on threads.
posted by damn dirty ape at 8:16 AM on March 30, 2007

it isn't unreasonable to for a microprocessor architecture class to be a semester-long 3rd year class, then parallel systems another 3rd year, or even grad level class.

It is probably better to focus on the producer-consumer problem and its solution (semaphores) in a multitasking, but single-CPU system.

Alternately, you could disucss two separate business logic servers backed by a single database cluster, and the transactional issues you run into there.
posted by b1tr0t at 9:24 PM on March 30, 2007