Exposing Synchronization Issues with the Help of Multiple Processors

[Chucker]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to writing multithreaded C# code and read in Mickey
Williams book, "Microsoft C# .Net" the following tip in chapter 10:

"It's a good idea to invest in a multiple-processor machine if you're
developing multithreaded software for commercial use. This test
illustrates the expected behavior for synchronization problems in
multithreaded applications. Faults seem to occur at random,
especially on single-processor machines. A multiple-processor machine
can save a lot of testing and debugging time by exposing
synchronization issues before your software is released."

With the advent of Intel's hyper threaded Pentium processors, could I
just buy a PC with HT technology to quickly expose synchronization
issues in multithreaded code or do I need to buy a PC with dual
processors?

Please advise.

 

[Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]]

Chucker,

This is a good question which I have been wondering about myself. A
good way to find out would be to check the size of the thread pool on a HT
machine. If it is 50 (I believe it allocates 25 per thread), then you can
tell that .NET is treating the system as a multi processor system. My guess
is that it will not, but I don't have enough information to be sure.

Perhaps someone out there with a HT processor could give some info?

Hope this helps.