Multithreading Languages

It is di cult to map the execution model of multithreading languages (languages which support ne-grain dynamic thread creation) onto the single stack execution model of C. Consequently, previous work on e cient multithreading uses elaborate frame formats and allocation strategy, with compilers customized for them. This paper presents an alternative cost-e ective implementation strategy for multithreading languages which can maximally exploit current sequential C compilers. We identify a set of primitives whereby efcient dynamic thread creation and switch can be achieved and clarify implementation issues and solutions which work under the stack frame layout and calling conventions of current C compilers. The primitives are implemented as a C library and named StackThreads. In StackThreads, a thread creation is done just by a C procedure call, maximizing thread creation performance. When a procedure suspends an execution, the context of the procedure, which is roughly a stack frame of the procedure, is saved into heap and resumed later. With StackThreads, the compiler writer can straightforwardly translate sequential constructs of the source language into corresponding C statements or expressions, while using StackThreads primitives as a blackbox mechanism which switches execution between C procedures.