Re: [boost] Any interests in a template library for distributed message passing and event dispatching?

From: Yigong Liu (yigongliu_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-03-01 01:15:42

Hi Larry,

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely look into it.

Yigong

On 2/28/06, Larry Evans <cppljevans_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>
> On 02/28/2006 01:09 AM, Yigong Liu wrote:
> >
> > Yes, most design considerations of message passing systems still apply,
> such
> > as avoiding data copying (Channel did it by message reference counting).
> > More suggestions and comments are highly appreciated.
> >
> Hi, Yigong.
>
> I know almost nothing about distributed systems, but the above mention
> of reference counting reminded me that "weighted reference counting"
> is supposed to have some speed advantage in distributed systems.
> A reference is [lins91c] as shown on:
>
>    http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/rej/gcbib/gcbibL.html
>
> IIRC, it saves time at the cost of memory.  The extra memory is caused
> by the "weight" of of the reference count being stored in the smart
> pointer instead of a reference count in the object pointed-to.  The
> weight is, I think, log2 of the normal reference count. Each
> time a copy is made, the weight is evenly divided between the from and
> to smart pointers.  Only when an object is destroyed is communication
> with the pointee needed.  Of course, there must be some provision for
> the weight dropping below 1 when too many copies are made.
>
> Would that be any use in your library?
>
> _______________________________________________
> Unsubscribe & other changes:
> http://lists.boost.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/boost
>