Multicore-programming?

[Terry Reedy]

cnb wrote:
> If I buy a multicore computer and I have really intensive program. How
> would that be distributed across the cores?
> 
> Will algorithms always have to be programmed and told specifically to
> run on several cores so if not told it will only utilize one core?

I believe that has always been true.
> 
> So is the free lunch really over or is this just an overhyped
> phenomena?
> 
> Is threading with Python hard? 

Opinions vary, mostly depending on experience.  But Python threads do 
not distribute across processors.

 >Can you start several processes with
> Python or just threads?

import subprocess
and read the manual for that module