learning about threads and processes (was Re: what would you like to see in a 2nd edition Nutshell?)

[Alex Martelli]

Arthur <ajsiegel at optonline.com> wrote:
   ...
> speaking in Python. As to these concepts, the implicit point of view
> seems to be to leave Python to learn the concepts, and return to
> Python to understand its implementation of the details, once the
> concepts are well grasped.

Hmmm, well, the concepts are reasonably independent of the programming
language involved.  If anything, threads and processes may be more tied
to whatever _operating system_ you're using.  A very fundamental but
good introduction to processes (and other such basics) is for example at
<http://en.tldp.org/HOWTO/Unix-and-Internet-Fundamentals-HOWTO/>, but it
will be only partially applicable if you need to understand in depth the
process-model of Windows.  But of course this is about the concepts, not
the practice of programming to interact with them.


> If I want to no more than be able to follow, say, the current Idle
> code of the PyShell module, I can find very little guidance from
> within the canon of Python literature.
> 
> Help?

Hmmm - have you looked at Deitel, Deitel, Liperi, Wiedermann, "Python
how to program", chapters 18 (Process Management) and 19
(Multithreading), pages 613-687?  They seem to do a rather workmanlike
job -- of course, they can't do full justice to the subjects in 75
pages; and if you don't want to buy a vast, costly 1300-pages tome for
the sake of those 75 pages, I can't really blame you, either.  Still,
without some clarification of how (if at all) those 75 pages fail to
meet your learning needs, it's hard to know what else to suggest.  And
what about Norman Matloff's
<http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/Python/PyThreads.pdf>, the first
google hit if you're looking for
    python threads
?  I haven't looked into it, but, again, without some specific
explanation of how it fails to meet your needs, it's hard to offer
alternatives.

It is, of course, out of the question that the Nutshell can get into the
tutorial business -- MY space budget for the whole "Threads and
processes" chapter is around 20 small pages, and I personally consider
it quite a feat to have managed to fit within that compass 4 pages of
advice on threaded program architecture as well as a down-to-the-bone
reference to modules threading, Queue, os (process-related subset) _and_
mmap;-).  Still, others _are_ writing Python tutorials, and it does seem
that books such as "Learning Python" and even "Dive into Python" are
(understandably, I guess) avoiding the subject... so, pinpointing what's
being looked for by learners, which Deitel et al, Matloff, etc, are
missing, might help future editions and versions of such books...


Alex