On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 4:24 AM, Randal L. Schwartz
<merlyn at stonehenge.com> wrote:
>>>>>> "Ang" == Ang BeePeng <beepeng86 at yahoo.com> writes:
>
> Ang> Are Squeak processes pre-emptive? Are infinite loop processes safe
> Ang> to run?
>
> Squeak uses a simple priority scheme.
>
> A Squeak process runs until it yields or it is interrupted by a higher
> priority process event.  When it is interrupted, it goes to the back of
> the queue, so when the higher priority process pauses or completes,
> other processes at the same priority are likely to be run instead.
>
> So, it's safe to run an infinite loop, but be sure that anything that
> should interrupt it is at a higher priority.  And if you're running
> *two* infinite loops at the same priority, you need something that will
> just interrupt regularly.

What I do is start up a very high priority process that does something like:

d := Delay forMilliseconds: 50.
[ d wait ] repeat.

or...

EventSensor eventPollPeriod: 50.
EventSensor install.

This forces processes at lower levels to rotate, thus making the whole
system a bit fairer and surprisingly more reactive.

My opinion is that the scheduler needs improving. I'll work on it... one day.

Gulik.


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