Subj : Re: Lock Free -- where to start
To   : comp.programming.threads
From : Joe Seigh
Date : Sun Sep 25 2005 09:46 am

Imre Palik wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I read a few discussions on lock-free programming lately in various
> newsgroups.  As it sounds quite intereting, I tried to google for it, to
> find some introduction, uses, idioms, patterns, etc. to learn about it.
> 
> But I am pretty much lost in the results.  Could anybody point me to a good
> introduction, and some real-life (OpenSource?) examples on its use?  (I
> read boost::shared_ptr already, but I have the feeling, there is more to
> it.)
> 
Google on lock-free (http://scholar.google.com/ if it's up).

shared_ptr, though it's internally lock-free in some cases, isn't
really usable for lock-free since it depends on you owning the
shared_ptr's you copy.

Look at Java JSR-133 volatiles which are atomic with acquire and release
semantics.  Also look at java.util.concurrent (JSR-166) packages.  The
Java environment is probably a better one to play around in since the
memory model is better defined, and it has GC, atomicity, and interlocked
primatives.

If you're going to use anything commercially, take care to only use stuff
in the public domain.  Just because a paper has been published on it doesn't
mean a patent application isn't in the works, which is pretty much everything
in the last 6 years or so.  And a lot of stuff before that already has
patents.

-- 
Joe Seigh

When you get lemons, you make lemonade.
When you get hardware, you make software.

.