Kacam.net

Computer systems

一次上下文切换,贵在哪

切换的成本主要不是保存寄存器 —— 那是什么?

Copy the prompt, then pick a model. It plays the interviewer and asks you through it scene by scene instead of handing you the answer.

On a phone with the app installed, the system opens the app directly. Links cannot open external apps inside WeChat — open it in a browser first.

The copied text ends with the answer key the model grades you against. Don't read it yourself first — working it out on your own is the point.

「切换有开销」人人会说,但开销在哪、量级是多少就开始分人了。直接成本(保存现场、跑调度器)只有一两微秒,真正贵的是切完之后缓存全冷、新线程要重新捂热的那几十微秒。

想明白这一点,「线程池该开多大」「协程凭什么便宜」「为什么任务粒度太小时多线程反而更慢」就都是它的推论。

最后一幕问怎么在线上看:自愿切换和非自愿切换特别高,分别说明什么。

★★★★☆ · about 30 min · Tests: 直接成本 vs 间接成本、线程池该开多大、协程凭什么便宜

What this one drills

Scheduling and switching Caches and cache lines Orders of magnitude

Have you done this one?

Sign in to mark this one as practised — next time you come back you'll see when you did it.

Notes from people who did this one

Nobody has written yet. After you run it, say what came out of the conversation — which scene stumped you, which conclusion you changed afterwards.

Sign in to write a note.

How to use this

This set teaches rather than interrogates: it guides you instead of pressing until you have nothing left to say. When you're stuck it first asks which layer you're stuck at (never heard of it / know it but not why / know why but can't apply it), then decides what to give. Only after guiding you twice on the same point will it spell it out — and then it asks you to say it back in your own words.

It will keep pushing you for numbers: answer "there's some overhead" or "it's faster" and it cuts you off. A conclusion you can't put a number on is a memorised one — that's exactly what this set drills.

How to start

  1. Pick one, open it, copy the prompt.
  2. Paste it into a brand-new conversation, say nothing, and wait for its first question.
  3. Expect to be asked for orders of magnitude: how many nanoseconds, how many microseconds, how many times slower. Saying you don't know is fine — it notes it and moves on.

Four commands you can call out at any time

  • 跳过 move to the next scene now
  • 换个说法 explain this bit again from another angle
  • 直说吧 spell the answer out, then make me say it back
  • 复盘 jump to the wrap-up and print the review card

Three traps

  • Don't read the answer key at the end first — that "how people get it wrong" section is the answer to every question it will ask.
  • Don't reach for the jargon. Saying "that's a TLB miss" is easy; saying how much cheaper it is than a page fault is the part that counts.
  • When it starts praising you, point it back to the "don't praise me" rule. Guiding is not coddling.

Want a feel for the numbers? Start with random reads and the first-byte one. For production debugging: malloc, TCP stalls, context switches. Writing concurrent code: reordering and false sharing.