RE: select() - Linux vs. BSD

[John Chris Wren]

>
> [e-mail] wrote:
> > Of course, not looking at the sets upon a zero return is a
> fairly obvious
> > optimization as there is little point in doing so.
>
> No; a fairly obvious optimisation is to avoid calling FD_ZERO if you
> can clear the bits individually when you test them.
>
> When you examine the sets, you can clear each bit that you examine and
> then you know you have a zero set.  Then you can set only the relevant
> bits for the next call to select().
>
> If you can't rely on the sets being cleared on a timeout, then you
> will have to call FD_ZERO in that case, or you will have to go through
> the list of descriptors and clear them individually.  (This can be
> avoided but it means keeping track of state between successive calls
> to select()).  This is contrary to the non-timeout case, where you
> stop checking bits when you have counted N of them set.
>
> So you see, there is a handy optimisation if you can assume the sets
> are zeroed on timeout.
>

I would have said just the opposite.  That if it you have a large number of
handles you're waiting on, and you have to go back through and set the bits
everytime you timeout that you would incur a larger overhead.  From the
perspective of my application, it would have been more efficient to not zero
them (I was waiting on a number of serial channels, and the timeout was used
to periodically pump more data to the serial channel.  When I received data,
I buffered it, and another thread took care of processing it).

It all really depends on the coding style of your program, and what you need
to do on a timeout.  Certain types of applications would benefit from
non-zero'ing, others from zeroing.

All what is *most* important is that the behavior is clearly understood and
well documented.  A google search made it pretty clear that it was a source
of confusion.

--John