我正在努力理解Python中的线程。我看过文档和示例,但坦率地说,许多示例过于复杂,我很难理解它们。

如何清楚地显示为多线程划分的任务?


当前回答

自2010年提出这个问题以来,如何使用带有映射和池的Python进行简单的多线程处理已经得到了真正的简化。

下面的代码来自一篇文章/博客文章,您应该明确查看(没有从属关系)-一行中的并行性:一个更好的日常线程任务模型。我将在下面总结一下——它最终只是几行代码:

from multiprocessing.dummy import Pool as ThreadPool
pool = ThreadPool(4)
results = pool.map(my_function, my_array)

以下是多线程版本:

results = []
for item in my_array:
    results.append(my_function(item))

描述

Map是一个很酷的小函数,是将并行性轻松注入Python代码的关键。对于那些不熟悉的人来说,map是从Lisp这样的函数语言中提取出来的。它是一个将另一个函数映射到序列上的函数。Map为我们处理序列上的迭代,应用函数,并在最后将所有结果存储在一个方便的列表中。


实施

map函数的并行版本由两个库提供:multiprocessing,以及它鲜为人知但同样神奇的stepchild:multiprocessing.dummy。

multiprocessing.dummy与多处理模块完全相同,但使用线程(一个重要的区别-对CPU密集型任务使用多个进程;对I/O(和在I/O期间)使用线程):

multiprocessing.dummy复制了多处理的API,但它不过是线程模块的包装器。

import urllib2
from multiprocessing.dummy import Pool as ThreadPool

urls = [
  'http://www.python.org',
  'http://www.python.org/about/',
  'http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2003/04/17/metaclasses.html',
  'http://www.python.org/doc/',
  'http://www.python.org/download/',
  'http://www.python.org/getit/',
  'http://www.python.org/community/',
  'https://wiki.python.org/moin/',
]

# Make the Pool of workers
pool = ThreadPool(4)

# Open the URLs in their own threads
# and return the results
results = pool.map(urllib2.urlopen, urls)

# Close the pool and wait for the work to finish
pool.close()
pool.join()

计时结果:

Single thread:   14.4 seconds
       4 Pool:   3.1 seconds
       8 Pool:   1.4 seconds
      13 Pool:   1.3 seconds

传递多个参数(仅在Python 3.3及更高版本中如此):

要传递多个数组,请执行以下操作:

results = pool.starmap(function, zip(list_a, list_b))

或者传递常量和数组:

results = pool.starmap(function, zip(itertools.repeat(constant), list_a))

如果您使用的是早期版本的Python,可以通过此解决方法传递多个参数)。

(感谢user136036提供的有用评论。)

其他回答

我发现这非常有用:创建与内核一样多的线程,并让它们执行(大量)任务(在本例中,调用shell程序):

import Queue
import threading
import multiprocessing
import subprocess

q = Queue.Queue()
for i in range(30): # Put 30 tasks in the queue
    q.put(i)

def worker():
    while True:
        item = q.get()
        # Execute a task: call a shell program and wait until it completes
        subprocess.call("echo " + str(item), shell=True)
        q.task_done()

cpus = multiprocessing.cpu_count() # Detect number of cores
print("Creating %d threads" % cpus)
for i in range(cpus):
     t = threading.Thread(target=worker)
     t.daemon = True
     t.start()

q.join() # Block until all tasks are done

注意:对于Python中的实际并行化,您应该使用多处理模块来分叉并行执行的多个进程(由于全局解释器锁,Python线程提供了交织,但实际上它们是串行执行的,而不是并行执行的,并且仅在交织I/O操作时有用)。

然而,如果您只是在寻找交错(或者正在执行可以并行化的I/O操作,尽管存在全局解释器锁),那么线程模块就是开始的地方。作为一个非常简单的例子,让我们考虑通过并行对子范围求和来对大范围求和的问题:

import threading

class SummingThread(threading.Thread):
     def __init__(self,low,high):
         super(SummingThread, self).__init__()
         self.low=low
         self.high=high
         self.total=0

     def run(self):
         for i in range(self.low,self.high):
             self.total+=i


thread1 = SummingThread(0,500000)
thread2 = SummingThread(500000,1000000)
thread1.start() # This actually causes the thread to run
thread2.start()
thread1.join()  # This waits until the thread has completed
thread2.join()
# At this point, both threads have completed
result = thread1.total + thread2.total
print result

请注意,以上是一个非常愚蠢的示例,因为它绝对没有I/O,并且由于全局解释器锁,虽然在CPython中交错执行(增加了上下文切换的开销),但仍将串行执行。

使用全新的concurrent.futures模块

def sqr(val):
    import time
    time.sleep(0.1)
    return val * val

def process_result(result):
    print(result)

def process_these_asap(tasks):
    import concurrent.futures

    with concurrent.futures.ProcessPoolExecutor() as executor:
        futures = []
        for task in tasks:
            futures.append(executor.submit(sqr, task))

        for future in concurrent.futures.as_completed(futures):
            process_result(future.result())
        # Or instead of all this just do:
        # results = executor.map(sqr, tasks)
        # list(map(process_result, results))

def main():
    tasks = list(range(10))
    print('Processing {} tasks'.format(len(tasks)))
    process_these_asap(tasks)
    print('Done')
    return 0

if __name__ == '__main__':
    import sys
    sys.exit(main())

执行器方法对于所有以前接触过Java的人来说似乎都很熟悉。

还有一个附带说明:为了保持宇宙的正常,如果你不使用上下文,不要忘记关闭你的池/执行器(这是如此棒,它为你做了)

这很容易理解。这里有两种简单的线程处理方法。

import time
from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor, as_completed
import threading

def a(a=1, b=2):
    print(a)
    time.sleep(5)
    print(b)
    return a+b

def b(**kwargs):
    if "a" in kwargs:
        print("am b")
    else:
        print("nothing")
        
to_do=[]
executor = ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=4)
ex1=executor.submit(a)
to_do.append(ex1)
ex2=executor.submit(b, **{"a":1})
to_do.append(ex2)

for future in as_completed(to_do):
    print("Future {} and Future Return is {}\n".format(future, future.result()))

print("threading")

to_do=[]
to_do.append(threading.Thread(target=a))
to_do.append(threading.Thread(target=b, kwargs={"a":1}))

for threads in to_do:
    threads.start()
    
for threads in to_do:
    threads.join()

大多数文档和教程都使用Python的“线程和队列”模块,对于初学者来说,它们可能会让人不知所措。

也许可以考虑Python 3的concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor模块。

结合子句和列表理解,这可能是一个真正的魅力。

from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor, as_completed

def get_url(url):
    # Your actual program here. Using threading.Lock() if necessary
    return ""

# List of URLs to fetch
urls = ["url1", "url2"]

with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers = 5) as executor:

    # Create threads
    futures = {executor.submit(get_url, url) for url in urls}

    # as_completed() gives you the threads once finished
    for f in as_completed(futures):
        # Get the results
        rs = f.result()