When should you use multithreading? And would multi threading be beneficial if the different threads execute mutually independent tasks?
java, multithreading
Solution
Q: When should you use multithreading?
A: "Your question is very broad. There are few non-trivial systems where the functionality can be met simply, quickly and reliably with only one thread. For example: [pick out a typical system that the target company sells and pick out a couple aspects of its function that would be better threaded off - heavy CPU, comms, multi-user - just pick out something likely & explain].
Q: Would multithreading be beneficial if the different threads execute mutually independent tasks?
A: "Depends on what you mean by 'executing tasks'. Multithreading would surely be beneficial if the threads process mutually independent data in a concurrent fashion - it reduces requirements for locks and probabilty of deadlocks increases in a super-linear fashion with the number of locks. OTOH, there is no issue with threads executing the same code, this is safe and very common."
Problem
This were the only two questions I couldn't answer in the interview I got rejected from last night.