[Oz] Time allocation for threads (and other questions)

[Andrew Cooke]

Hi,

Is it possible to control time allocated to threads in detail?  In 
particular, I want equal time for separate subtrees in the thread forest 
(ie I have certain parent threads for which the total time allocated to the 
parent and children should be the same).  Each subtree is compute-bound.

It might be clearer if I explain why:

I'm considering implementing a simple environment in which separate agents 
compete.  The agents interact asynchronously with the environment (and only 
indirectly, through the environment, with each other) and have limited 
information - I want to look at the trade-off between agents that do little 
processing and so interact more with the environment and agents that do 
more processing but, therefore, interact less frequently.

At first I thought thread fairness would guarantee this, but as I learnt 
more about Oz I realised that I would want to use more than a single thread 
in each agent.  If I understand things correctly this would mean that the 
agent using more threads would (could) get more CPU time.

If all this sounds a bit serious I better add that this is just for fun - 
in time I hope to open up the environment and see whether I can persuade 
others to send agents to compete.  (Which brings up another question - 
what's happening about security (controlling access to system resources)?).

Thanks,
Andrew

PS I'm new to Oz - as is probably obvious - but from what I've seen, it's a 
very impressive language.  I hope it continues (another question - is it 
likely to remain supported for some time?  It's a pity that "academic" 
languages like this often fade away before getting widespread use.)  And 
the documentation is exemplary!
http://www.andrewcooke.free-online.co.uk/index.html

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