Efficient synchronization on multiprocessors with shared memory

Clyde P. Kruskal, Larry Rudolph, Marc Snir

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

A new formalism is given for read-modify-write (RMW) synchronization operations. This formalism is used to extend the memory reference combining mechanism, introduced in the NYU Ultracomputer, to arbitrary RMW operations. A formal correctness proof of this combining mechanism is given. General requirements for the practicality of combining are discussed. Combining is shown to be practical for many useful memory access operations. This includes memory updates of the form mem-yal.== mem-val op val, where op need not be associative, and a variety of synchronization primitives. The computation involved is shown to be closely related to parallel prefix evaluation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Annual ACM Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages218-228
Number of pages11
ISBN (Electronic)0897911989
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1 1986
Externally publishedYes
Event5th Annual ACM Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing, PODC 1986 - Calgary, Canada
Duration: Aug 11 1986Aug 13 1986

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual ACM Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing

Other

Other5th Annual ACM Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing, PODC 1986
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityCalgary
Period8/11/868/13/86

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Computer Networks and Communications

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