What are the differences between concurrency and threads in Haskell?

What are the differences between concurrency and threads in Haskell?

In Haskell, concurrency refers to the ability to run multiple computations simultaneously, while threads are the actual units of execution. Haskell uses lightweight threads managed by the runtime system, allowing for efficient concurrency.

How does Haskell handle concurrency differently than other languages?

Haskell uses Software Transactional Memory (STM) and asynchronous I/O, which simplifies concurrent programming by avoiding common pitfalls like deadlocks and race conditions.

Can you give an example of using STM in Haskell?

Sure! Here's a simple example: you can use atomically to perform a series of operations on shared variables safely. For instance, you can increment a counter in a thread-safe manner using STM.

What are the performance implications of using concurrency in Haskell?

Using concurrency can improve performance by better utilizing CPU resources, especially on multi-core systems. However, it may introduce overhead due to context switching and synchronization.