Re: [boost] [Boost.Lockfree] Interest in a ringbuffer class

Subject: Re: [boost] [Boost.Lockfree] Interest in a ringbuffer class
From: Raphaël Londeix (raphael.londeix_at_[hidden])
Date: 2017-01-26 05:56:47

>
> the ringbuffer will be basically using the same algorithm as the
> spsc_queue under the hood, but basically separate 'algorithm' from
> 'storage', right?
>

That's right, but that's not the main selling point. The idea is to be able
to store raw buffers of different sizes, without any external storage or
indirection. When you do

    buffer* buf = rb.start_write(10);

The variable `buf' is stored inside the ring buffer, so that the commit
operation only change the position of the write cursor. One possible
way to do that is to define buffer as

    struct buffer {
        size_type size;
        byte_type data[];
    };

a more generic interface would be useful for some use cases, where you
> can directly access the storage may be useful for some use cases, but
> when i originally wrote the class, it didn't include it, as i was a bit
> afraid that the interface might be a bit too fragile. but i don't have a
> very strong opinion on this.
>

The interface is quite low level, and mostly meant to be used by subclass.
Maybe I should have started with that, but the range of problems I'm trying
to solve boil down to passing network packets or messages from one
thread to another. This could also apply to audio software in general, were
the producer and the consumer work in different threads at different pace.

> i suppose, you already had a look at the code of the spsc_queue already?
>

Yes ! I was a bit confused as there is a class called basic_ringbuffer, but
it's
mostly there to share some common code, right ?

-- 
Raphaël Londeix
http://hotgloupi.fr