The sync-vs-async decision framework
P32.sync-vs-async.01 · Audience: guest, it-ml, language-pro · Prerequisites: Threads vs processes & the GIL
You now have three tools — threads, processes, and (next pillar) asyncio. The senior skill is choosing between them, and knowing when to reach for none of them. This short track builds the decision framework and bridges into P33 · Asyncio & Coroutines.
ⓘ Concept: CPU-bound or I/O-bound?
Why it matters — Almost every concurrency decision falls out of this single classification — get it right and the tool chooses itself.
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🎓 Practice ladder
1 graded rung · ~8 minPut it in words: build the decision table an interviewer would accept, and set up the bridge into asyncio.
Rung 1 — sync vs async, and how to choose (interview)
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That framework — classify the work, then pick the tool — is what carries you into P33, where asyncio turns "wait on thousands of things at once" into ordinary code.
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