Parallel Extensions: Difference between revisions

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==Task Parallel Library==

The '''Task Parallel Library''' ('''TPL''') is the [[task parallelism]] component of the Parallel Extensions to .NET.<ref name="Concurrent Programming on Windows Appendix B"/> It exposes parallel constructs like parallel <code>For</code> and <code>ForEach</code> loops, using regular method calls and [[Delegate (CLI)|delegate]]s, thus the constructs can be used from any [[List of CLI languages|CLI languages]]. The job of spawning and terminating [[Thread (computing)|threads]], as well as scaling the number of threads according to the number of available processors, is done by the library itself.,<ref name="msdnmag"/> using a [[work stealing]] scheduler.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leijen |first1=Daan |first2=Wolfram |last2=Schulte |first3=Sebastian |last3=Burckhardt |title=The Design of a Task Parallel Library |journal=ACM SIGPLAN Notices |volume=44 |issue=10 |year=2009}}</ref>

TPL also includes other constructs like ''Task'' and ''[[Future (programming)|Future]]''. A ''Task'' is an action that can be executed independent of the rest of the program. In that sense, it is semantically equivalent to a thread, except that it is a more light-weight object and comes without the overhead of creating an OS thread. Tasks are queued by a ''Task Manager'' object and are scheduled to run on multiple OS threads in a [[thread pool pattern|thread pool]] when their turn comes.