Unexpected output in Tasking?

Question

Why it is not sure for below code that task_1 should execute first then task_2 because task_1 which is in waiting state get first start message from main? but output is not predictable please help me to understand?

 WITH Ada.Text_IO;                  --  Include Text_IO Library
 WITH Ada.Integer_Text_IO;    --  Include Integer Text_IO Library
 PROCEDURE task_demo_02 IS
TASK TYPE intro_task (message1 : Integer) IS  
      ENTRY start;             --  Entry Point Into The Task
  END intro_task;

  TASK BODY intro_task IS       --  Task Body Definition
BEGIN
 ada.text_io.put_line("waitng");
   ACCEPT start;            --  Entry Point Into The Task
   Ada.Text_IO.put ( "Display from Task ");
   Ada.Integer_Text_IO.put (message1,  1);
   Ada.Text_IO.new_line;
   END intro_task;
  Task_1 : intro_task (message1 => 1);--activate
  Task_2 : intro_task (message1 => 2);--activate

   BEGIN
   ada.Text_IO.put_line("main");
   Task_1.start;  --- first task_1 should execute
   Task_2.start;   --- then task_2 isn't it ?
   END task_demo_02;

Give some example(s) of the actual output you are getting. And, *please*, lay your code out properly! — Simon Wright, Jan 20 '15 at 19:56

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 21 '15 at 04:21

BEGIN
   ada.Text_IO.put_line("main");
   Task_1.start;  --- first task_1 should execute

Your comment seems to assume that this will cause Task_1 to execute, and Task_1 will finish executing until it's done, and then the main program will go on to Task_2.start.

But that's not the case. Task_1.start means that Task_1 is now ready to execute. But at this point, there are two tasks ready to execute: Task_1, and the environment task, which is the task that's running task_demo_2. You can't really tell which task is run first (there are some dispatching policies that will specify how tasks get run in a case like this, but in general you can't tell). That means that task_demo_02 could keep running, which means Task_2.start will happen before Task_1continues. Or it could mean that Task_1 starts, but that the processor will split time between Task_1 and task_demo_02. Or, on a multi-processor system, they could both run in parallel.

If you want to write a program where the main program starts Task_1 and waits for it to finish, the most reliable way is to add another entry:

TASK TYPE intro_task (message1 : Integer) IS  
    entry Start;
    entry Finish;
END intro_task;

Task_1.Start;
Task_1.Finish;

and then, at the end of intro_task, add

accept Finish;

thank you a lot when ever i get your reply to my question i get clear picture of my question again thanks a lot .. :-) — pravu pp, Jan 21 '15 at 14:10

Unexpected output in Tasking?

1 Answers1