Software transactional memories: an approach for multicore programming

Abstract

The recent advance of multicore architectures and the deployment of multiprocessors as the mainstream computing platforms have given rise to a new concurrent programming impetus. Software transactional memories (STM) are one of the most promising approaches to take up this challenge. The aim of a STM system is to discharge the application programmer from the management of synchronization when he/she has to write multiprocess programs. His/her task is to decompose his/her program into a set of sequential tasks that access shared objects, and to decompose each task in atomic units of computation. The management of the required synchronization is ensured by the associated STM system. This paper presents two existing STM systems, and a new one based on time-window mechanism. The paper, which focuses mainly on STM principles, has an introductory and survey flavor.