[Eug-lug] Concurrency, (free lunch is over article)

[Mike Cherba]

Just finished reading the article.  In my mind the question really
becomes a matter of provisioning multiple processors to the best
effect.  I've not played with the SMP portions of the Linux kernel as
I've not had a multiproc box to run it with.  However, this is an area
of real concern for me as newer generations of the network processors I
work with will have up to 16 cores within a single chip.  

I find it interesting that the article only covers one percieved facet
of mutlicore performance and doesn't really cover effective division of
work as the number of processors goes toward infinity.  While SMP is a
good approach for 2 or even 4 processors, I do not believe it to be the
best approach for numbers of cores higher than that.  Especially
depending on the work to be done.  Once you have more than a few cores,
you can afford to specialize the tasks of each core at an even lower
level.  Certain functions work best with a single CPU focused on them.  

My concerns are that most software developers today do not understand
how to design applications which effectively make use of multiple
processing units.  

Just my $.02 !
		-Mike

-- 
"The meek shall inherit the Earth. The rest of us are getting the hell
off this rock!"