[boost] [thread] Interest in a locking pointer and lockable concept

From: klaus triendl (klaus_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-03-16 10:55:11

Hi,

is there any interest in something like a locking pointer and a type 
that I call "lockable" that pairs any type with a mutex?

Inspired by Andrei Alexandrescu's article "volatile - Multithreaded 
Programmer's Best Friend" on ddj I implemented a concept similar to a 
locking pointer called "lock_acquirer" that collects acquisition of a 
mutex and a volatile cast of the locked type. It is even more threadsafe 
to use than a locking pointer.

Additionally I made a class "lockable" that pairs a (volatile) type with 
a mutex type, wrapping both in a distinct type, which has first the
advantage that the type to protect and the mutex are glued together, and 
second that it encapsulates volatile qualifier correctly.

Also, the locked type in a lockable can, if wanted, by a restricted 
interface only be accessed by a lock_acquirer thus forcing the 
programmer to a very threadsafe programming style.

I can post my implementation along with a simple example to the boost vault.

Klaus