John C. Reynolds
Carnegie Mellon University and BRICS
TOWARDS A GRAINLESS SEMANTICS FOR SHARED VARIABLE CONCURRENCY
Abstract:
Conventional semantics for shared variable concurrency imposes a
default choice of the level of atomicity that is often unrealistic for
an actual implementation - this is commonly called the "grain of time"
phenomenon. We propose a semantics that avoids any such
choice. It is based on three principles:
· All operations have duration and can
overlap one another during execution.
· If two overlapping operations touch
the same location, the meaning of the program execution is "wrong".
· If, from a given starting state,
execution of a program can give "wrong", then no other possibilities
need be considered.
Principles
of Programming Seminars
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
3:30 p.m.
Wean Hall 8220