4. Doing Thread Scheduling and Priority the Right Way (Multithreading Fundamentals)

The series so far:

1. The Unconventional Guide to Introduction to Thread
2. Why Do People Think Dedicated CLR Threads is a Good Idea?
3. How Not Knowing Thread Members and Execution State Makes You a Rookie
4. Doing Thread Scheduling and Priority the Right Way
5. How to Start Using CLR's Thread Pool
6. What Wikipedia Can't Tell You About Thread Execution Contexts
7. The Insider's Guide to Cooperative Cancellation and Timeout

Foreground Threads and Background Threads

The IsBackground property can be used to identify/change the thread’s background status.

NOTE: The foreground/background status has no relation to the thread priority, and we observe Task Manager force stop all threads instantaneously - foreground and background.

Demo with Background and Foreground Threads

//Compiler version 4.0.30319.17929 for Microsoft (R) .NET Framework 4.5

using System;
using System.Threading;

namespace Rextester
{
    public class Program
    {
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Thread waterThread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(WaterSoundMethod));
            waterThread.IsBackground = true;

            Thread beeThread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(BeeSoundMethod));
            beeThread.IsBackground = true;

            
            waterThread.Start();
            Console.WriteLine("The thread's background status is: "+waterThread.IsBackground.ToString());
            beeThread.Start();
            Console.WriteLine("The thread's background status is: "+beeThread.IsBackground.ToString());
            
            Thread.Sleep(20);
            Console.WriteLine("Enjoying the nature");
            waterThread.Interrupt();
            waterThread.Join();
        }
        
        static void WaterSoundMethod()
        {
            try{
            while(true)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Ffffffffff!");
                Thread.Sleep(10);
            }
            }
            catch(ThreadInterruptedException exception){
                Console.WriteLine(exception);
            }
        }
        
        static void BeeSoundMethod()
        {
            while(true)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Buzzzzzzz!");
                Thread.Sleep(10);
            }
        }
    }
}

Thread Scheduling and Priorities

We should keep in mind below points for setting priority

1. Lower Thread Priority for long-running tasks
2. Raise Thread Priority for quick response short running tasks

Exercise

Display 3 questions that user has to answer in 15 seconds (5 seconds to each). Display the score after 15 seconds.

Hints: Use the concept covered so far Thread States, Foreground and Background Threads