parallel

A parallel processing package for Go.

Usage

Two structures implement the Process interface; FixedProcess and VariableProcess. Both perform a set of parallel operations on either a fixed or varying number of goroutines.

FixedProcess

FixedProcess types execute their set of operations on a fixed number of goroutines specified upon initialization.

// Create a process with two goroutines.
p := parallel.NewFixedProcess(2)

// Execute 100 operations in parallel.
p.Execute(100, func (i int) {
  // Perform the ith operation.
})

VariableProcess

VariableProcess types execute their set of operations on a variable number of goroutines by utilizing a PID control loop to maximize CPU throughput. You configure the PID controller by creating a ControllerConfiguration struct and passing it to the NewVariableProcess function.

// Create a variable process with optimization interval, initial routine count,
// max goroutine count, and PID controller configuration.
c := NewControllerConfiguration(2.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.1, 1.0)
p := parallel.NewVariableProcess(500 * time.Millisecond, 1, 2 * runtime.NumCPU(), c, false)

// Execute 100 operations in parallel.
p.Execute(100, func(i int) {
  // Perform the ith operation.
})

You can't change the number of goroutines directly on a variable process, but you can modify its optimization parameters while it's executing.

// Execute the process on its own goroutine
go p.Execute(100, func(i int) {
  // Perform the ith operation.
})

// Modify optimization parameters while the process is executing...
p.SetOptimizationInterval(time.Second)
p.SetMaxRoutines(50)

c := p.GetControllerConfiguration()
// Modify config...
p.SetControllerConfiguration(c)

Tuning the PID Controller

A variable process has four probes that are activated by setting the probeController parameter to true upon initialization. They monitor and keep a record of the following values.

• CPU throughput
• PID input error
• PID output signal
• Number of goroutines

// Create a variable process with probeController set to true.
c := NewControllerConfiguration(2.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.1, 1.0)
p := parallel.NewVariableProcess(500 * time.Millisecond, 1, 2 * runtime.NumCPU(), c, true)

// Execute 100 operations in parallel.
p.Execute(100, func(i int) {
  // Perform the ith operation.
})

// Examine the PID output signal programmatically
s := p.PIDProbe.Signal()

Stopping a Process

A process can be stopped at any time by calling the Stop() method. The process will stop after any operations that have already begun finish executing.

p.Execute(100, func(i int) {
  // Perform the ith operation with an error condition...
  if err != nil {
    p.Stop()
  }
})