Real-Time Embedded Systems

10

 

 

Lock and Wait-Free Communication

 

CONTENTS

10.1 Basic Principles and Definitions

10.2 Multidigit Registers

10.3 Application to the Readers/Writer Problem

10.4 Universal Constructions

10.5 Summary

From the previous chapters, Chapter 5 in particular, we know that a shared object, or concurrent object, is a data structure that can be accessed and modified by means of a fixed, predefined set of operations by a number of concurrent processes. Uncontrolled, concurrent access to a shared object may lead to the unrecoverable corruption of the object contents, a dangerous situation known as race condition.

For this reason, object access is traditionally implemented by means of critical sections or regions. A mutual exclusion mechanism, for ...