Threads

Media publications

• Application-Level Abstractions for Lock-Free Data Sharing - Describes lock-free data sharing, otherwise known as "wait-free data sharing" as an alternative to the use of locks. (Published 2007.12.21)
• Apply Critical Sections Consistently - Critical sections are the One True Tool for guaranteeing mutual exclusion on shared variables. Like most tools, these must be applied consistently, and with the intended meanings. (Published 2007.10.10)
• Concurrency with Erlang - To avoid problems with shared state working with multiple threads, Vinoski recommends a programming language like Erlang rather than C++ or Java. (Published 2007.09.00)
• Fundamentals of Multithreading - Technical article, covering Amdahl's Law, latencies and bandwidth, on-chip multiprocessing, Jackson technology, and simultaneous multithreading. (SystemLogic.net) (Published 2001.06.15)
• Introduction to Priority Inversion - Gives an introduction to priority inversion and shows a pair of techniques to avoid them. (Published 2002.03.00)
• It's (Not) All Been Done - Every decade or so there is a major revolution in the way software is developed. But, unlike the object and web revolutions, the concurrency revolution can be seen coming. (Published 2006.09.00)
• Lock-free Interprocess Communication - Interprocess communication is an essential component of modern software engineering. Often, lock-free IPC is accomplished via special processor commands. This article propose a communication type that requires only atomic writing of processor word from processor cache into main memory and atomic processor word reading from main memory into the processor register or processor cache. (Published 2006.06.15)
• Maximize Locality, Minimize Contention - Explains why in the concurrent world, locality is a first-order issue that trumps most other performance considerations. Now locality is no longer just about fitting well into cache and RAM, but to avoid scalability busters by keeping tightly coupled data physically close together and separately used data far, far apart. (Published 2008.05.23)
• Multi-threaded Debugging Techniques - Describes a number of general purpose debugging techniques for multi-threaded applications. (Published 2007.04.23)
• Software and the Concurrency Revolution - Focuses on the implications of concurrency for software and its consequences for both programming languages and programmers. (Herb Sutter and James Larus) (Published 2005.09.00)
• Sutter Speaks: A Conversation with the Concurrency Whisperer - Multi- and many-core chips are entering the mainstream — and one of the first software development authorities to take note was C++ expert Herb Sutter. Thanks to his practical insights, a new generation may grok concurrency sooner than previously thought possible. (Published 2008.03.27)
• Sutter Speaks: The Future of Concurrency - What does the future hold for concurrency? What will happen to the tools and techniques around concurrent programming? In part two of our series, concurrency guru Herb Sutter talks about these issues and what developers need to be reading to understand concurrency. (Published 2008.05.08)
• The Free Lunch Is Over: A Fundamental Turn Toward Concurrency in Software - The biggest sea change in software development since the OO revolution is knocking at the door, and its name is Concurrency. (Published 2005.03.00)
• The Pillars of Concurrency - This article makes the case that a consistent mental model is needed to talk about concurrency. (Published 2007.07.02)
• The Problem with Threads - Argues that for concurrent programming to become mainstream, threads must be discarded as a programming model. Nondeterminism should be judiciously and carefully introduced where needed, and it should be explicit in programs. (Published 2006.05.00)
• Use Lock Hierarchies to Avoid Deadlock - Explains how to use lock hierarchies to avoid deadlock by assigning each shared resource a level that corresponds to its architectural layer. (Published 2007.12.11)
• volatile - Multithreaded Programmer's Best Friend - Discusses the usage of the volatile keyword in multithreaded C++ programs. (Published 2001.02.00)

	Generic Synchronization Policies in C++ URL: http://www.ciaranmchale.com/gsp/ ODP description: Most uses of synchronization code in multi-threaded applications fall into a small number of high-level “usage patterns”, or what can be called generic synchronization policies (GSPs). This paper illustrates how the use of such GSPs simplify the writing of thread-safe classes. In addition, this paper presents a C++ class library that implements commonly-used GSPs.
	Bibliography on Threads and Multithreading URL: http://liinwww.ira.uka.de/bibliography/Os/threads.html ODP description: Part of the Computer Science Bibliography Collection. Page title: Bibliography on threads and multithreading Page description: Bibliography on threads and multithreading. This bibliography is a part of the Computer Science Bibliography Collection.
	ZThreads URL: http://zthread.sourceforge.net/ ODP description: An advanced object-oriented, cross-platform C++ threading and synchronization library. [GPL]
	State Threads Library for Internet Applications URL: http://state-threads.sourceforge.net/ ODP description: The State Threads is a small application library which provides a foundation for writing fast and highly scalable Internet applications (e.g., web, proxy, mail servers) on UNIX-like platforms. It offers a threading API for structuring a network application as an event-driven state machine. Page title: State Threads Library Page description: State Threads Library Project page
	Foundations of Multithreaded, Parallel, and Distributed Programming URL: http://www.aw-bc.com/catalog/academic/product/0,1144,0201357526,00.html ODP description: This book teaches the fundamental concepts of multithreaded, parallel and distributed computing. Emphasizes how to solve problems, with correctness the primary concern and performance an important, but secondary, concern. (Gregory R. Andrews) Page title: Foundations of Multithreaded, Parallel, and Distributed Programming - Addison-Wesley and Benjamin Cummings Catalog
	Survey of Threads URL: http://www.northco.net/chenke/project/project2.html ODP description: Comparing Solaris, Linux, and Windows NT threads.
	comp.programming.threads FAQ URL: http://www.lambdacs.com/cpt/FAQ.html ODP description: Bil Lewis's collection of frequently asked questions.
	Await && Locks URL: http://await.sourceforge.net/ ODP description: An expressive C++ thread synchronization library. Page title: Await && Locks Home Page Page description: Await and Locks Home Page
	Concurrent Programming: Principles and Practice URL: http://www.aw-bc.com/catalog/academic/product/0,1144,0805300864,00.html ODP description: This book provides an in-depth overview of underlying principles as well as practical techniques that can be used to design concurrent programs. (Greg Andrews) Page title: Concurrent Programming: Principles and Practice - Addison-Wesley and Benjamin Cummings Catalog
	Portable Thread Synchronization using C++ URL: http://www.frostbytes.com/~jimf/papers/c++sync/c++sync.html ODP description: Provides example C++ classes implementing a series of synchronization objects useful for building portable (Solaris and Win32) multithreaded applications. Page title: Portable Thread Synchronization Using C++
	A Thread Performance Comparison URL: http://www.usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/usenix-nt98/full_papers/zabatta/zabatta_html/zabatta.html ODP description: Compares Windows NT and Solaris on a symmetric multiprocessor machine. Page title: Papers - 2nd USENIX Windows NT Symposium
	Priority Inheritance Protocols URL: http://www-md.e-technik.uni-rostock.de/ma/gol/rtsys-bib/90-toc-pcp.pdf ODP description: Use of synchronization mechanisms like semaphores, monitors, and critical regions can lead to uncontrolled priority inversion.
	Thread Implementation Table URL: http://members.aol.com/drbutenhof/ThreadTable.html ODP description: Dave Butenhof's comparison of thread implementations.
	Protothreads URL: http://www.sics.se/~adam/pt/ ODP description: Very lightweight stackless threads; give linear code execution for event-driven systems, designed to use little memory; library is pure C, no platform-specific Assembly; usable with or without OS. Open source, BSD-type license. Page title: Protothreads - Lightweight, Stackless Threads in C
	comp.programming.threads FAQ URL: http://www.serpentine.com/blog/threads-faq/ ODP description: Frequently asked questions (by Bryan O'Sullivan). Page title: teideal glic deisbhéalach » Threads FAQ Page description: Bryan O’Sullivan’s blog
	RT++ URL: http://www.risc.uni-linz.ac.at/software/rt++/ ODP description: Higher order threads for C++; tutorial and reference manual. Page title: RT++ --- Tutorial and Reference Manual