Re: [boost] Threads

From: Alan Griffiths (alan_at_[hidden])
Date: 2000-08-02 14:46:59

In message <20000801183618.B9804_at_[hidden]>, Nathan Myers
<ncm_at_[hidden]> writes
>Trying to define a "threads library" could easily turn in to a black
>hole, or a tar baby.  Fortunately, Dietmar has shown us the way out.
>
>We don't need or want a "threads library".  It wouldn't be portable
>anyhow, or would require so many compromises that it wouldn't be 
>useful for real programs.  What we need is just need the parts that
>are needed so that a portable library can be written that will work
>in a threaded program.  This probably means a "mutex" type, and maybe 
>(a couple of) read-write locks.  It might have atomic-increment and 
>atomic-swap-pointer primitives.

Like many good ideas, it is obvious once some genius has pointed it out!

Yes, this has to be the second stage - the first (as Dietmar mentions in
his post) is to identify the guarantees a library needs to make in a
threaded environment.

But the problem suddenly looks approachable.
-- 
Alan Griffiths  (alan_at_[hidden])  http://www.octopull.demon.co.uk/
ACCU Chairman   (chair_at_[hidden])             http://www.accu.org/