Concurrency in iOS (Strange Loop 2012)

iOS includes Apple’s new Grand Central Dispatch framework for managing concurrency. Since Grand Central Dispatch makes heavy use of blocks, Apple’s closure-like extension to the C language, this talk will first cover blocks, then go into Grand Central Dispatch. We’ll discuss usage and best practices from the ground up for GCD, allowing you to write awesome, performant apps. As an added benefit, since GCD is a system-level framework, everything in this talk applies equally to Mac OS X and iOS!

Transcript

1. Concurrency in iOS Jeff Kelley | @SlaunchaMan www.jeffkelley.org Strange Loop | September 24, 2012 Monday, September 24, 12
2. Who? Monday, September 24, 12
3. Concurrency • It isn’t enough to go fast • Moore’s Law expiring early • Expanding to multiple processor cores, not faster processors • Manually creating threaded code sucks • Different tools for different jobs Monday, September 24, 12
4. Going Fast • Processors are still getting faster, but it’s slowing down • This was predicted for 2015, but something funny happened along the way • Mobile processors have more stringent heat and power consumption needs Monday, September 24, 12
5. Going Fast • Desktop computers are going multicore • A Mac Pro can have twelve processor cores! • The fastest possible algorithm may not matter if it uses a single core Monday, September 24, 12
6. Threaded Code Some people, when confronted with a problem, think, "I know, I'll use threads," and then two they hav erpoblesms. Ned Batchelder Monday, September 24, 12
7. Threaded Code • Manually-threaded code is horrible to write • Query the number of cores • Ask them how busy they are • Create the appropriate number of threads • Do stuff on those threads, monitoring the cores to see which one to use Monday, September 24, 12
8. Yuck. Monday, September 24, 12
9. UNIX Threading Monday, September 24, 12
10. UNIX Threading • Full support for the things you already know from UNIX and BSD • pthreads, kqueues, etc. • Extremely low-level, but powerful Monday, September 24, 12
11. NSThread • Objective-C threading API • Higher-level than UNIX threads, still expose raw details • Still have to manually create/destroy threads Monday, September 24, 12
12. Threading Problems • It’s difficult to gauge current CPU use and impossible to know future use • Two programs each trying to be as multithreaded as possible will fight for resources • Lots of wasted effort and surface area for bugs • Bugs here are harder to track down and potentially extremely nasty Monday, September 24, 12
13. Thread Safety • Writing to a portion of memory on one thread while trying to read that portion of memory on another is… problematic. • All kinds of solutions for this • @synchronize(myObject) • Locks, semaphores, etc. • Core Data “thread safety” Monday, September 24, 12
14. Thread Safety • This is one problem we won’t solve today. • We will make it better. Monday, September 24, 12
15. So What’s a Developer To Do? UNIX Threading Model Grand Central Dispatch NSOperationQueue New Cocoa (Touch) APIs Monday, September 24, 12
16. So What’s a Developer To Do? • Stop managing threads on your own • Think of the things your app needs to do as units of work. • Enqueue units of work and let the OS decide how to run them • The OS has a lot more knowledge than your program does Monday, September 24, 12
17. Grand Central Dispatch Monday, September 24, 12
18. Grand Central Dispatch • C API for managing queues of work • Relies heavily on blocks, an Apple extension to the C language • Manually memory managed • Open-sourced as libdispatch • Generally pretty awesome Monday, September 24, 12
19. Simple GCD dispatch_queue_t queue = dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_ PRIORITY_HIGH, 0); dispatch_async(queue, ^{ [self performLongTask]; }); Monday, September 24, 12
20. Simple GCD dispatch_queue_t queue = dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_ PRIORITY_HIGH, 0); dispatch_async(queue, ^{ [self performLongTask]; }); Monday, September 24, 12
21. Simple GCD dispatch_queue_t queue = dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_ PRIORITY_HIGH, 0); dispatch_async(queue, ^{ [self performLongTask]; }); Monday, September 24, 12
22. Simple GCD dispatch_queue_t queue = dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_ PRIORITY_HIGH, 0); dispatch_async(queue, ^{ [self performLongTask]; }); Monday, September 24, 12
23. Simple GCD dispatch_queue_t queue = dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_ PRIORITY_HIGH, 0); dispatch_async(queue, ^{ [self performLongTask]; }); Monday, September 24, 12
24. Simple GCD dispatch_queue_t queue = dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_ PRIORITY_HIGH, 0); dispatch_async(queue, ^{ [self performLongTask]; }); Monday, September 24, 12
25. Basic Dispatch Functions • dispatch_async(queue, block); dispatch_async_f(queue, context, func); • Schedules block or function on queue, returns immediately • dispatch_sync(queue, block); dispatch_sync_f(queue, context, func); • Schedules block or function on queue, blocks until completion Monday, September 24, 12
26. Dispatch Queues • dispatch_queue_t • Main Queue • Analogous to main thread (Do your UI operations here) • dispatch_get_main_queue() Monday, September 24, 12
27. Global Queues • dispatch_get_global_queue(priority, flags); • priority is one of four constants: • DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_BACKGROUND • DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_LOW • DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_NORMAL • DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_HIGH • flags arg should always be 0 (for now) Monday, September 24, 12
28. Making Queues • dispatch_queue_create(label, attr) • Use reverse DNS for label • com.example.myQueue • attr defines the type of queue • DISPATCH_QUEUE_SERIAL • DISPATCH_QUEUE_CONCURRENT • Be sure to use dispatch_release() Monday, September 24, 12
29. Using Queues • The main queue is serial • First-in, first-out, one at a time • Global queues are concurrent • GCD automatically chooses how many (usually # of CPU cores) • You pick for queues you create Monday, September 24, 12
30. Queues To Control Access • Easy way to limit access to a piece of memory • Create a serial queue (one-at-a-time, FIFO) for the object • All access to the object goes through this queue • No lock required! Monday, September 24, 12
31. Typical GCD Pattern • dispatch_async() with a background queue to kick off work • dispatch_async() with the main queue to display the results Monday, September 24, 12
32. Demo Monday, September 24, 12
33. Grand Central Dispatch • Useful for more than just threading! • Can be used to replace the main run loop in your app • For a good, lightweight example of a C program using GCD, check out the source to Mountain Lion’s caffeinate utility • Can support timers and file notifications Monday, September 24, 12
34. Grand Central Dispatch • Manages threads for you, uses as many as it needs • Not the most user-friendly API in the world • No way to cancel a task • No way to adjust the priority of a task • Memory Management?!? Monday, September 24, 12
35. NSOperationQueue Monday, September 24, 12
36. NSOperationQueue • Much like GCD, you enqueue units of work onto queues • Unlike GCD, the units of work and the queues themselves are Objective-C objects • NSOperation and NSOperationQueue Monday, September 24, 12
37. NSOperationQueue • Operations can have priority amongst one another • [myOperation setQueuePriority:NSOperationQueuePriorityLow]; • Operations can depend on one another • [myOperation addDependency:myOtherOperation]; • Even across different queues! Monday, September 24, 12
38. NSOperationQueue • Operations are cancellable • [myOperation cancel]; • In your custom operation class, check for the canceled property Monday, September 24, 12
39. Custom Operation Class? • Two ways to create an operation • NSBlockOperation • Create an operation with a work block • Subclass NSOperation • Implement -main with your custom logic Monday, September 24, 12
40. Why Subclass • Gives you a pointer to self to call [self isCancelled] • Asynchronous operations • URL loading, geocoding, etc. • The end of main does not necessarily end the operation • Implement -start and -isFinished Monday, September 24, 12
41. Demo Monday, September 24, 12
42. NSOperationQueue • Objective-C class to manage the execution of units of work • Create custom operations to perform a unit of work • With ARC, you don’t need to worry about memory management • Can cancel and prioritize tasks Monday, September 24, 12
43. New Cocoa (Touch) APIs Monday, September 24, 12
44. New Cocoa (Touch) APIs • Sometimes you don’t want to worry about managing threads, dispatch queues, or operation queues • Common, repetitive tasks that could be made faster with concurrency, but it’s not worth the effort to create a queue and manage it • Apple wants you to write fast code Monday, September 24, 12
45. New Cocoa (Touch) APIs • Enumerating a Collection • Sorting an Array Monday, September 24, 12
46. Enumerating a Collection • A task as old as programming itself • Walk the collection, item-by-item, and do something with each one Monday, September 24, 12
47. Enumerating a Collection NSUInteger count = [myArray count]; for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) { id obj = [myArray objectAtIndex:i]; [obj doSomething]; } Monday, September 24, 12
48. Enumerating a Collection NSUInteger count = [myArray count]; for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) { id obj = [myArray objectAtIndex:i]; [obj doSomething]; for (j = 0; j < [myNewArray count]; j++) { // More code inside this loop! } } Monday, September 24, 12
49. Enumerating a Collection NSEnumerator *enum = [myArray objectEnumerator]; id object; while ((object = [enum nextObject])) { [object doSomething]; } Monday, September 24, 12
50. Enumerating a Collection NSEnumerator *enum = [myArray objectEnumerator]; id object; while ((object = [enum nextObject])) { [object doSomething]; NSUInteger i = [myArray indexOfObject:object]; } Monday, September 24, 12
51. Enumerating a Collection for (id object in myArray) { [object doSomething]; } Monday, September 24, 12
52. Enumerating a Collection size_t count = [myArray count]; dispatch_queue_t queue = ... dispatch_apply(count, queue, ^(size_t i) { id object = [myArray objectAtIndex:i]; [object doSomething]; }); Monday, September 24, 12
53. Enumerating a Collection [myArray enumerateObjectsWithOptions:NSEnumerationConcurrent usingBlock:^(id obj, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) { ! [obj doSomething]; }]; Monday, September 24, 12
54. Enumerating a Collection [myArray enumerateObjectsWithOptions:NSEnumerationConcurrent usingBlock:^(id obj, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) { ! [obj doSomething]; }]; Monday, September 24, 12
55. Enumerating a Collection [myArray enumerateObjectsWithOptions:NSEnumerationConcurrent usingBlock:^(id obj, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) { ! [obj doSomething]; }]; Monday, September 24, 12
56. Enumerating a Collection • Concurrency for free! • Don’t worry about queue management • Very quickly add concurrency to an existing project Monday, September 24, 12
57. Sorting a Collection • NSArray and NSOrderedSet collections sometimes need sorting • Many, many algorithms • The more objects in the collection, the more time it’s going to take—potentially exponentially Monday, September 24, 12
58. Sorting a Collection NSMutableArray *myArray; [myArray sortWithOptions:NSSortConcurrent usingComparator:^NSComparisonResult(id obj1, id obj2) { ! ! ! return [obj1 compare:obj2]; ! ! }]; Monday, September 24, 12
59. Sorting a Collection NSMutableArray *myArray; [myArray sortWithOptions:NSSortConcurrent usingComparator:^NSComparisonResult(id obj1, id obj2) { ! ! ! return [obj1 compare:obj2]; ! ! }]; Monday, September 24, 12
60. Sorting a Collection NSMutableArray *myArray; [myArray sortWithOptions:NSSortConcurrent usingComparator:^NSComparisonResult(id obj1, id obj2) { ! ! ! return [obj1 compare:obj2]; ! ! }]; Monday, September 24, 12
61. Sorting a Collection NSMutableArray *myArray; [myArray sortWithOptions:NSSortConcurrent usingComparator:^NSComparisonResult(id obj1, id obj2) { ! ! ! return [obj1 compare:obj2]; ! ! }]; Monday, September 24, 12
62. Sorting a Collection • Stop worrying about sort algorithm (for most applications) • Utilize as many cores as needed to sort your data • Huge returns as hardware increases in throughput Monday, September 24, 12
63. Thread Safety • Don’t modify objects from multiple queues • Use dispatch queues to coordinate access • Use the main dispatch and operation queues for UIKit operations • Assume Apple code is not thread-safe Monday, September 24, 12
64. GCD Barriers • Great tool for thread safety • Allow for concurrent reading of data but serial writing • For instance, read from a dictionary on any queue simultaneously, write to it on a single queue Monday, September 24, 12
65. Demo Monday, September 24, 12
66. Thread Safety and Core Data • Create a separate Managed Object Context for each queue • Don’t pass NSManagedObject instances between queues • Use the object ID instead • Register for the NSManagedObjectContextDidSaveNotification notification Monday, September 24, 12
67. Wrap-Up • Concurrency is an enormous topic • Thread Safety is its own talk, especially if you use Core Data • Concurrency is not magic performance snake oil • Concurrency does help you take advantage of hardware enhancements Monday, September 24, 12
68. For More Info • http://jeffkelley.org • @SlaunchaMan • github.com/SlaunchaMan • Learn Cocoa Touch Monday, September 24, 12