Subj : lockless models and memory coherency
To   : comp.programming.threads
From : Chris Friesen
Date : Thu May 19 2005 03:11 pm

I've been trying to reconcile two different ideas.

On the one hand, POSIX threading guarantees memory coherency only by 
using locking mechanisms.  (This ties back into the whole "is volatile 
needed" issue that has been hashed over many times in this list.)

On the other hand, there are all these lockless data structures that 
people are using.

How do you guarantee memory coherency across CPUs with a lockless data 
structure in a portable way?  Do lockless implementations necessarily 
require hardware-specific implementation to ensure coherency across cpus?

Thanks,

Chris

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