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Send independent work out together

Nothing is switched on to make work run in parallel. It comes down to whether you asked for both things in the same breath.

Two helpers run at the same time when you ask for both in the same breath. Ask for one, wait for the answer, then ask for the next and they run one after the other. Nothing is switched on to make this happen. It is about when you ask.

So the question to put to any two pieces of work is simply whether one needs the answer from the other. If it does not, send them out together. If it does, the second has to wait.

You can send four people to four different shops at once. You cannot bake the cake before somebody has bought the flour.

Common questions

  1. Is there a parallel setting to turn on?
    No. Parallel is not a setting, it is where the calls sit. Independent work goes out in one response and the runtime executes it together, where dependent work has to be separate turns because the later one waits on the earlier.
  2. What is the one question to ask about any two tasks?
    Whether one needs the answer from the other. If it does not, send them out together. If it does, the second has to wait, and no amount of configuration changes that.
  3. When is running two copies of something worth it?
    When you want deliberate difference. It would be pointless to have two helpers do the same work, so the value is in each one taking a different approach to the same question.
  4. How do I stop the second attempt anchoring on the first?
    Start both from the same investigation, so the understanding is paid for once and each attempt gets a clean run at the decision rather than the second one reading what the first already said.
  5. Are those branches meant to be merged?
    No, unlike branching code. You are buying two answers to the same question so you can pick one, and the branch you drop has already done its job by existing.

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