First-Class Synchronization Barriers
Franklyn Turbak
This is paper that appeared in the ACM SIGPLAN First International
Conference on Functional Programming (ICFP '96).
Abstract:
Our purpose is to promote a second-class mechanism --- the
synchronization barrier --- to a first-class value. We introduce the
synchron , a novel synchronization mechanism
that enables the coordination of a dynamically varying set of
concurrent threads that share access to a first-class synchronization
token. We demonstrate how synchrons can be used to modularly manage
resources in cases where existing techniques are either inapplicable
or non-modular. In particular, synchronized lazy aggregates
enable the first space-efficient aggregate data decomposition of a wide range
of algorithms. We also introduce explicit-demand graph
reduction , a new semantic framework that we have developed to
describe concurrency and explain the meaning of a synchron rendezvous.
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Feedback:
Send all questions and comments about this work to
fturbak@wellesley.edu.