RFC: Prototype for a user threading library in Ada

[Hadrien Grasland <hadrien.grasland@gmail.com>]

So, a while ago, after playing with the nice user-mode threading libraries that are available these days in C++, like Intel TBB and HPX, I thought it would be nice if Ada had something similar.

Looking around for existing work, I found a number of projects with custom, relatively specialized mechanisms, and a very nice library called Paraffin whose high-level data-parallel interface I found highly interesting, but whose lower-level tasking abstractions did not match what I had in mind.

So I decided to have a go at my vision of a low-level user threading model, taking plenty of inspiration from other designs which I am fond of such as OpenCL's command queues.

Today, I am confident that the resulting design and implementation is solid enough for third party review. So if anyone here is interested, please have a go at studying it on GitHub!

https://github.com/HadrienG2/ada-async-tests


I tried to write a fairly extensive README which explains what I had in mind, what I have done, what I plan to do next if this experiment is conclusive, and which design points require particular attention today in my opinion.

I do not have a license yet, because I couldn't decide on a nice name for this project at this point (ada-async is already taken...). But anyway, I really wouldn't recommend anyone to use this library at this stage, as I am still open to design and interface changes at this stage, so that's not so much of an issue at this point.

Once I get the name thing sorted out, you can most likely expect GPL or LGPL licensing. These are my standard license for hobby projects: I don't want any money for them, but your code is of high interest to me :)

Hadrien