Question

What is the difference between concurrent programming and parallel programing? I asked google but didn’t find anything that helped me to understand that difference. Could you give me an example for both?

For now I found this explanation: http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7411 – but “concurrency is a property of the program” vs “parallel execution is a property of the machine” isn’t enough for me – still I can’t say what is what.

Answer 1

If your program is using threads (concurrent programming), it’s not necessarily going to be executed as such (parallel execution), since it depends on whether the machine can handle several threads.

Here’s a visual example. Threads on a non-threaded machine:

        --  --  --
     /              \
>---- --  --  --  -- ---->>

Threads on a threaded machine:

     ------
    /      \
>-------------->>

The dashes represent executed code. As you can see, they both split up and execute separately, but the threaded machine can execute several separate pieces at once.