Best practice regarding number of threads in GUI applications

Question

In the past I\'ve worked with a number of programmers who have worked exclusively writing GUI applications.

And I\'ve been given the impression that they have almost

Answer 1

The more threads you have in an application, (generally) the more complex the solution is. By attempting to minimise the number of threads being utilised within a GUI, there are less potential areas for problems.

The other issue is the biggest problem in GUI design: the human. Humans are notorious in their inability to want to do multiple things at the same time. Users have a habit of clicking multiple butons/controls in quick sucession in order to attempt to get something done quicker. Computers cannot generally keep up with this (this is only componded by the GUIs apparent ability to keep up by using multiple threads), so to minimise this effect GUIs will respond to input on a first come first serve basis on a single thread. By doing this, the GUI is forced to wait until system resorces are free untill it can move on. Therefore elimating all the nasty deadlock situations that can arise. Obviously if the program logic and the GUI are on different threads, then this goes out the window.

From a personal preference, I prefer to keep things simple on one thread but not to the detriment of the responsivness of the GUI. If a task is taking too long, then Ill use a different thread, otherwise Ill stick to just one.