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Course CSH103
C# .Net Multithreading Programming

Duration: 3 Days

Course Synopsis

Microsoft 32bit and 64bit operating systems use threads as the unit of scheduling. Threads associated with a given task share resources and hence inter-thread communication by use of shared memory is quite efficient. Multithreading is well suited to implementing scaleable server tasks running on Symmetric Multi-Processor (SMP) architectures, as the processors share the same memory. Since threads share the same executable code multiple threads can run on separate processors and make use of the same virtual memory space. The code generated by the compiler is the same whether it will run on a single or multi-core SMP processor. Multithreading can also be used to run I/O processing in a separate thread to e.g. data processing.

Course Objectives

Areas explored in this course include

• Understanding the Windows operating system multi-tasking and multi-threading mechanisms and the various interprocess communication mechanisms available under Windows
• Exploring classical multi-threading patterns and examples in the context of .NET multithreading
  • Producer-consumer
  • Readers and writers
  • Work crew
  • The dining philosophers problem
• WinAPI synchronisation resources
  • Event objects
  • Mutexes
  • Semaphores
  • Monitors
  • critical sections
  • Memory mapped files

The course is aimed at

• Programmers who already know C# and who wish to gain a deeper understanding of mutli-tasking and multi-threading in the context of developing .NET applications.

Publicly scheduled dates, locations, and prices

A schedule of dates for this subject is not currently available. Please call Ajay Patel on 02086471939 to enquire about places and availability.

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Course Outline

Multi-threading and Multi-tasking in Windows

• Symmetric MultiProcessor (SMP) Architectures
• WinAPI and the separation between user space and kernel space code
• How the .NET framework fits in with the WinAPI
• Multi-threading and Multi-tasking in the Windows world

Threads - Creation, Manipulation and Management

• Creating threads - the Thread class
• Implied type declaration
• Runnable Interface
• Thread priorities
• Stopping and Aborting threads
• Thread join
• Threadpools
• Thread termination
• Graceful shutdown

Synchronisation and control of access to shared resources

• Mutex
• Semaphore
• Event object - ManualResetEvent and AutoResetEvent
• Memory mapped files
• Stopping and Aborting threads
• Thread join
• Threadpools
• Interlocked interface
• Increment
• Exchange

Implementing Classical Multi-threading Examples in C# and .NET

• Producer-consumer example
• Readers and Writers Example
• Dining Philosopher's Example
• Workcrew Example
• Stopping and Aborting threads
• Thread join
• Threadpools

Timing and Timers

• Sleep
• Timer
• Implementing Timer callbacks
• Thread interrupts

Parallel Programming and Threads

• Overview of the PFX Parallel Framework
• The Parallel class
• Parallel LINQ (PLINQ)
• Task parallelism
• Concurrent collections
• SpinLock and SpinWait