Paper

Paper: Real-world Concurrency

Todd Hoff

— 1 min read

An excellent article by Bryan Cantrill and Jeff Bonwick on how to write multi-threaded code. With more processors and no magic bullet solution for how to use them, knowing how to write multiprocessor code that doesn't screw up your system is still a valuable skill. Some topics:

  • Know your cold paths from your hot paths.
  • Intuition is frequently wrong—be data intensive.
  • Know when—and when not—to break up a lock.
  • Be wary of readers/writer locks.
  • Consider per-CPU locking.
  • Know when to broadcast—and when to signal.
  • Learn to debug postmortem.
  • Design your systems to be composable.
  • Don't use a semaphore where a mutex would suffice.
  • Consider memory retiring to implement per-chain hash-table locks.
  • Be aware of false sharing.
  • Consider using nonblocking synchronization routines to monitor contention.
  • When reacquiring locks, consider using generation counts to detect state change.
  • Use wait- and lock-free structures only if you absolutely must.
  • Prepare for the thrill of victory—and the agony of defeat.

    While I don't agree that code using locks can be made composable, this articles covers a lot of very useful nitty-gritty details that will up your expert rating a couple points.

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