Many computers today ship with multiple processors and with multi-core processors.

In order for programs to take advantage of multiple cores, application developers need to write code that runs in parallel - that is that runs simultaneously on two or more cores. The upcoming .Net 4.0 provides tools to make it easier for developers to write such code.

The Parallel Extensions library eases the pain of building multi-threaded applications. Enhancements include a set of APIs to abstract away the complexity of parallel processing; a set of thread-safe collections appropriate for use with parallel processing; and enhancements to the System.Threading namespace.

Stephen Toub of the Microsoft's Parallel Computing team is touring the Midwest this week speaking about this new technology. Friday October 30, Stephen will be at the Microsoft office in Southfield, MI at a special meeting of the Great Lakes Area .Net User Group.

You can get more information and register for this event at http://migang.org/NewsItem/09-10-16/special_user_group_meeting_oct_30_parallel_computing_with_stephen_toub.aspx