Based on this question I assumed that creating new process should be almost as fast as creating new thread in Linux. However, little test showed very different result. Here's my code:
from multiprocessing import Process, Pool
from threading import Thread
times = 1000
def inc(a):
b = 1
return a + b
def processes():
for i in xrange(times):
p = Process(target=inc, args=(i, ))
p.start()
p.join()
def threads():
for i in xrange(times):
t = Thread(target=inc, args=(i, ))
t.start()
t.join()
Tests:
>>> timeit processes()
1 loops, best of 3: 3.8 s per loop
>>> timeit threads()
10 loops, best of 3: 98.6 ms per loop
So, processes are almost 40 times slower to create! Why does it happen? Is it specific to Python or these libraries? Or did I just misinterpreted the answer above?
UPD 1. To make it more clear. I understand that this piece of code doesn't actually introduce any concurrency. The goal here is to test the time needed to create a process and a thread. To use real concurrency with Python one can use something like this:
def pools():
pool = Pool(10)
pool.map(inc, xrange(times))
which really runs much faster than threaded version.
UPD 2. I have added version with os.fork():
for i in xrange(times):
child_pid = os.fork()
if child_pid:
os.waitpid(child_pid, 0)
else:
exit(-1)
Results are:
$ time python test_fork.py
real 0m3.919s
user 0m0.040s
sys 0m0.208s
$ time python test_multiprocessing.py
real 0m1.088s
user 0m0.128s
sys 0m0.292s
$ time python test_threadings.py
real 0m0.134s
user 0m0.112s
sys 0m0.048s
解决方案
The question you linked to is comparing the cost of just calling fork(2) vs. pthread_create(3), whereas your code does quite a bit more, e.g. using join() to wait for the processes/threads to terminate.
If, as you say...
The goal here is to test the time needed to create a process and a thread.
...then you shouldn't be waiting for them to complete. You should be using test programs more like these...
fork.py
import os
import time
def main():
for i in range(100):
pid = os.fork()
if pid:
#print 'created new process %d' % pid
continue
else:
time.sleep(1)
return
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
thread.py
import thread
import time
def dummy():
time.sleep(1)
def main():
for i in range(100):
tid = thread.start_new_thread(dummy, ())
#print 'created new thread %d' % tid
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
...which give the following results...
$ time python fork.py
real 0m0.035s
user 0m0.008s
sys 0m0.024s
$ time python thread.py
real 0m0.032s
user 0m0.012s
sys 0m0.024s
...so there's not much difference in the creation time of threads and processes.