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Parallel Programming and the Virtual PC limitation

Fri, November 7, 2008, 11:24 PM under ParallelComputing

The question of "How do I try/show the parallel bits in VS2010 outside of the VPC?" or variants of that keeps appearing in my inbox. That is because of Virtual PC's limitation to only run one core, which kind of sucks for parallel programming.

Here is the story:
1. The VS2010/.NET 4.0 CTP is only available as a VPC. Sorry, no directly installable bits that I can share. You can still use the VPC to get a feel for the APIs and tools, though.
2. Parallel Extensions are now part of mscorlib.dll with dependencies on the CLR 4.0, so no you cannot copy bits from the VPC and use it with VS2008.
3. You can however, run the virtual image on HyperV and then you have access to all the cores on your box. Instructions for that are here (thanks Grant for incorporating my comment into the blog post).
4. If that is not an option for you either, then your last resort is to use the old Parallel Extensions June CTP that works with VS2008. Of course, via that route, you cannot play with the new debugger bits.

In any case, have fun!

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