Good Books On Programming With Threads?

uneek writes "I have been programming for several years now in a variety of languages, most recently C#, Java, and Python. I have never had to use threads for a solution in the past. Recently I have been incorporating them more in my solutions for clients. I understand the theory behind them. However I am looking for a good book on programming threads from an applied point of view. I am looking for one or more texts that provide thorough coverage and provide meaningful exercises. Anyone have any ideas?"

Comments

PThreads & Java Threads

[eldavojohn]

However I am looking for a good book on programming threads from an applied point of view. I am looking for one or more texts that provide thorough coverage and provide meaningful exercises. Anyone have any ideas?

I went through grad school not too long ago for Computer Science (disclaimer: it was the kind of computer science degree that doesn't focus on hardware so I might not be the best expert on this). Anyway there were two books for the class.

One dealt with coding regular old C on a plain jain Unix machine and method of (I believe there are others) doing multithreaded in that environment is PThreads (or the super short overview). The book we used is the Addison Wesley book (ISBN 0-201-63392-2). It was informative and comprehensive ... wasn't concentrated specifically on applications like you ask but very good reference. Also, I think there are a lot of good books free online in respect to that topic.

As for Java, there was an O'Reilly book (there's probably a new version out for Java 6) that was pretty good. Not as great of a reference but better on applications of threads in Java. Although, as far as introductory material, I personally learned it all from java.sun.com. Although I can't vouch for whether this is an applied approach or not, I would suggest the concurrency tutorial and a good book on Java Patterns or even a design pattern wiki.

I've never done concurrent programming in C# or Python so I do not know first hand what is best. I do know that erlang has been fun to mess around with in my spare time though!

Recently I have been incorporating them more in my solutions for clients.

Most important rule of thumb of multi-threaded programming is to avoid it if possible. Maybe hardware (multi-core) will change that, maybe you feel the scheduler can't do its job as well as you can and maybe you feel it's more intuitive. But, often is the case, that you're just adding more complexity to your code resulting in more difficult bugs and harder maintenance for others. Keep it simple.

Re:PThreads & Java Threads

[zolaar]

Erm, the tenets of programming usually involve the general concept of "Eliminate the unnecessary." Therefore, the parent is correct: if multi-threaded processing is unnecessary, avoid it.

What you meant to add to the dicussion is the corollary: If it is unavoidable, use it wisely.

Free eBook on Threading in C#

[Deffexor]

I'm still getting the hang of Threading in C# myself, but I found this eBook immensely helpful in getting me understand some of the difficult issues such as Thread Safety, Cross-threading issues, Race Conditions, and Event-Delegate pairs.

http://www.albahari.com/threading/

Concurrent Programming in Java

[progressnerd]

Concurrent Programming in Java is more or less *the* book on good practices for multi-threaded programming for Java, with many lessons that apply to other languages as well.

Re:Concurrent Programming in Java

[K.B.Zod]

I recommend Java Concurrency in Practice as well. It's an updated, in-depth look at Java threads. Doug Lea, author of Concurrent Programming in Java, is a co-author of the newer book. A great read.

I can suggest three books...

[Troposphere]

I can suggest three books... But you've got to be able to read them all at the same time ;-)