Erlang & Hyperthreading

[Thomas Lindgren]

--- Ryan Rawson <ryanobjc@REDACTED> wrote:

> As for performance - surely on a multicpu system
> with a SMP aware
> erlang running, one can expect better performance
> just by using
> multiple kernel threads and gaining the ability to
> run on several
> CPUs?  Actual performance on a single cpu, I
> wouldn't expect any
> performance benefit.

There is the extra cost of locking access to shared
data inside the VM; contention between threads;
waiting for sequential, global background tasks like
memory management [parallel GCs exist, though; not
sure what OTP uses], etc. 

These problems are not specific to Erlang, naturally,
but do tend to turn up in most parallel applications,
particularly those that aren't designed to get around
it. Symptoms: First, a multithreaded application on a
single CPU will normally see a slowdown compared to
the single-threaded version (depending on hardware,
language and implementation, the precise number varies
widely). Second, contention and sequentialization
limits potential speedup, both relative to the
multithreaded and the (faster) single-threaded base.

If the application permits it, you could also try a
less convenient and less flexible solution: running
several distributed erlang nodes on the same SMP host.
Since the nodes run at arm's length, the performance
trade off is different.

Best,
Thomas


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com