Skip to main content

Concurrency

How to choose between multiprocessing and multithreading?

FactorMultiprocessingMultithreading
TaskCPU-bound tasksI/O-bound tasks
MemoryHigher overall memory usageMore memory-efficient
CommunicationIPC is slower and more complexEasier and faster
SynchronizationProcess isolation reduces the need for complex synchronizationHigher risk of deadlocks and race conditions due to shared memory access
Context SwitchingContext switching between processes is more resource-intensiveFaster context switching between threads
Fault IsolationBetter fault isolationMore error-prone
ExamplesData processing pipelinesWeb servers handling multiple connections