xeon hyperthreading & GIL

[Tim Roberts]

aahz at pythoncraft.com (Aahz) wrote:
>
>Seb Bacon  <seb.bacon at jamkit.com> wrote:
>>
>>Can anyone give me the lowdown on how hyperthreading on the Xeon might 
>>effect python performance?
>>
>>AFAICT the cost of context switching is very low so the impact of 
>>releasing the GIL should be minimal.
>
><shrug>  Consider hyperthreading as functionally equivalent to multiple
>CPUs; from Python's perspective, there's no difference.

Yes.  I fear that Intel has created the potential for enormous confusion in
their choice of names, because people will think hyperthreading is somehow
related to threading in the operating system sense, instead of just a
clever way to use up all that extra silicon real estate.

I think it is a fabulous idea, but I would have preferred a name like
"hyperprocessing" or "twin-processing".
-- 
- Tim Roberts, timr at probo.com
  Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.