Re: Boost.Threads - Questions

From: williamkempf_at_[hidden]
Date: 2001-08-21 11:56:12

--- In boost_at_y..., "Peter Dimov" <pdimov_at_m...> wrote:
> From: "William Kempf" <williamkempf_at_h...>
> 
> > So, what you really want is not an atomic_t type, but a ref_count 
type.
> 
> Yes, exactly. When I looked at the atomic_t documentation I was 
left with
> the impression that this is exactly the type I need for a reference 
count.
> (It had win32 Interlocked* semantics, AFAICS.) Apparently I 
misunderstood.

The Win32 Interlocked* semantics are not enough to insure a proper 
ref-counting implementation... especially when you talk portably.  
Alexander tried to point this out with the links he posted.  The fact 
that InterlockedIncrement and InterlockedDecrement are enough on IA32 
is just a (un)happy coincidence.  Ref-counting is a higher level 
concept than an atomic integer.

Bill Kempf