What are the performance differences between threading and multiprocessing?

What are the performance differences between threading and multiprocessing?

Threading and multiprocessing are both techniques to achieve concurrency, but they have different performance characteristics. Threading is generally more lightweight and suitable for I/O-bound tasks, while multiprocessing can take advantage of multiple CPU cores, making it better for CPU-bound tasks.

Can you give examples of when to use each?

Sure! Use threading for tasks like web scraping or handling multiple network requests, where waiting for I/O is common. Use multiprocessing for tasks like image processing or data analysis, where heavy computations can be distributed across multiple cores.

What about memory usage? Is one more efficient than the other?

Yes, threading typically uses less memory since threads share the same memory space. In contrast, each process in multiprocessing has its own memory space, which can lead to higher memory usage.

Are there any downsides to using multiprocessing?

Yes, multiprocessing can introduce overhead due to inter-process communication and context switching. It may also be more complex to implement compared to threading.