Changeset b9d0fb6


Ignore:
Timestamp:
Nov 7, 2017, 3:36:53 PM (7 years ago)
Author:
Thierry Delisle <tdelisle@…>
Branches:
ADT, aaron-thesis, arm-eh, ast-experimental, cleanup-dtors, deferred_resn, demangler, enum, forall-pointer-decay, jacob/cs343-translation, jenkins-sandbox, master, new-ast, new-ast-unique-expr, new-env, no_list, persistent-indexer, pthread-emulation, qualifiedEnum, resolv-new, with_gc
Children:
6fa9e71
Parents:
a2ea829
Message:

Revised up to chapter 6

Location:
doc/proposals/concurrency
Files:
5 edited

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  • doc/proposals/concurrency/style/cfa-format.tex

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    254254}{}
    255255
     256\lstnewenvironment{gocode}[1][]{
     257  \lstset{
     258    language = Golang,
     259    style=defaultStyle,
     260    #1
     261  }
     262}{}
     263
    256264\newcommand{\zero}{\lstinline{zero_t}\xspace}
    257265\newcommand{\one}{\lstinline{one_t}\xspace}

  • doc/proposals/concurrency/text/concurrency.tex

    ra2ea829 rb9d0fb6  
    44% ======================================================================
    55% ======================================================================
    6 Several tool can be used to solve concurrency challenges. Since many of these challenges appear with the use of mutable shared-state, some languages and libraries simply disallow mutable shared-state (Erlang~\cite{Erlang}, Haskell~\cite{Haskell}, Akka (Scala)~\cite{Akka}). In these paradigms, interaction among concurrent objects relies on message passing~\cite{Thoth,Harmony,V-Kernel} or other paradigms closely relate to networking concepts (channels\cit for example). However, in languages that use routine calls as their core abstraction-mechanism, these approaches force a clear distinction between concurrent and non-concurrent paradigms (i.e., message passing versus routine call). This distinction in turn means that, in order to be effective, programmers need to learn two sets of designs patterns. While this distinction can be hidden away in library code, effective use of the librairy still has to take both paradigms into account.
     6Several tool can be used to solve concurrency challenges. Since many of these challenges appear with the use of mutable shared-state, some languages and libraries simply disallow mutable shared-state (Erlang~\cite{Erlang}, Haskell~\cite{Haskell}, Akka (Scala)~\cite{Akka}). In these paradigms, interaction among concurrent objects relies on message passing~\cite{Thoth,Harmony,V-Kernel} or other paradigms closely relate to networking concepts (channels\cite{CSP,Go} for example). However, in languages that use routine calls as their core abstraction-mechanism, these approaches force a clear distinction between concurrent and non-concurrent paradigms (i.e., message passing versus routine call). This distinction in turn means that, in order to be effective, programmers need to learn two sets of designs patterns. While this distinction can be hidden away in library code, effective use of the librairy still has to take both paradigms into account.
    77
    88Approaches based on shared memory are more closely related to non-concurrent paradigms since they often rely on basic constructs like routine calls and shared objects. At the lowest level, concurrent paradigms are implemented as atomic operations and locks. Many such mechanisms have been proposed, including semaphores~\cite{Dijkstra68b} and path expressions~\cite{Campbell74}. However, for productivity reasons it is desireable to have a higher-level construct be the core concurrency paradigm~\cite{HPP:Study}.
    99
    10 An approach that is worth mentionning because it is gaining in popularity is transactionnal memory~\cite{Dice10}[Check citation]. While this approach is even pursued by system languages like \CC\cit, the performance and feature set is currently too restrictive to be the main concurrency paradigm for systems language, which is why it was rejected as the core paradigm for concurrency in \CFA.
     10An approach that is worth mentioning because it is gaining in popularity is transactionnal memory~\cite{Dice10}[Check citation]. While this approach is even pursued by system languages like \CC\cit, the performance and feature set is currently too restrictive to be the main concurrency paradigm for systems language, which is why it was rejected as the core paradigm for concurrency in \CFA.
    1111
    1212One of the most natural, elegant, and efficient mechanisms for synchronization and communication, especially for shared-memory systems, is the \emph{monitor}. Monitors were first proposed by Brinch Hansen~\cite{Hansen73} and later described and extended by C.A.R.~Hoare~\cite{Hoare74}. Many programming languages---e.g., Concurrent Pascal~\cite{ConcurrentPascal}, Mesa~\cite{Mesa}, Modula~\cite{Modula-2}, Turing~\cite{Turing:old}, Modula-3~\cite{Modula-3}, NeWS~\cite{NeWS}, Emerald~\cite{Emerald}, \uC~\cite{Buhr92a} and Java~\cite{Java}---provide monitors as explicit language constructs. In addition, operating-system kernels and device drivers have a monitor-like structure, although they often use lower-level primitives such as semaphores or locks to simulate monitors. For these reasons, this project proposes monitors as the core concurrency-construct.
    … …  
    1919
    2020\subsection{Synchronization}
    21 As for mutual-exclusion, low-level synchronisation primitives often offer good performance and good flexibility at the cost of ease of use. Again, higher-level mechanism often simplify usage by adding better coupling between synchronization and data, e.g.: message passing, or offering simple solution to otherwise involved challenges. An example is barging. As mentioned above, synchronization can be expressed as guaranteeing that event \textit{X} always happens before \textit{Y}. Most of the time, synchronisation happens around a critical section, where threads must acquire critical sections in a certain order. However, it may also be desirable to guarantee that event \textit{Z} does not occur between \textit{X} and \textit{Y}. Not satisfying this property called barging. For example, where event \textit{X} tries to effect event \textit{Y} but another thread acquires the critical section and emits \textit{Z} before \textit{Y}. Preventing or detecting barging is an involved challenge with low-level locks, which can be made much easier by higher-level constructs. This challenge is often split into two different methods, barging avoidance and barging prevention. Algorithms that use status flags and other flag variables to detect barging threads are said to be using barging avoidance while algorithms that baton-passing locks between threads instead of releasing the locks are said to be using barging prevention.
     21As for mutual-exclusion, low-level synchronisation primitives often offer good performance and good flexibility at the cost of ease of use. Again, higher-level mechanism often simplify usage by adding better coupling between synchronization and data, e.g.: message passing, or offering simpler solution to otherwise involved challenges. As mentioned above, synchronization can be expressed as guaranteeing that event \textit{X} always happens before \textit{Y}. Most of the time, synchronisation happens within a critical section, where threads must acquire mutual-exclusion in a certain order. However, it may also be desirable to guarantee that event \textit{Z} does not occur between \textit{X} and \textit{Y}. Not satisfying this property called barging. For example, where event \textit{X} tries to effect event \textit{Y} but another thread acquires the critical section and emits \textit{Z} before \textit{Y}. The classic exmaple is the thread that finishes using a ressource and unblocks a thread waiting to use the resource, but the unblocked thread must compete again to acquire the resource. Preventing or detecting barging is an involved challenge with low-level locks, which can be made much easier by higher-level constructs. This challenge is often split into two different methods, barging avoidance and barging prevention. Algorithms that use status flags and other flag variables to detect barging threads are said to be using barging avoidance while algorithms that baton-passing locks between threads instead of releasing the locks are said to be using barging prevention.
    2222
    2323% ======================================================================
    … …  
    7171\end{tabular}
    7272\end{center}
    73 Notice how the counter is used without any explicit synchronisation and yet supports thread-safe semantics for both reading and writting.
    74 
    75 Here, the constructor(\code{?\{\}}) uses the \code{nomutex} keyword to signify that it does not acquire the monitor mutual-exclusion when constructing. This semantics is because an object not yet constructed should never be shared and therefore does not require mutual exclusion. The prefix increment operator uses \code{mutex} to protect the incrementing process from race conditions. Finally, there is a conversion operator from \code{counter_t} to \code{size_t}. This conversion may or may not require the \code{mutex} keyword depending on whether or not reading a \code{size_t} is an atomic operation.
    76 
    77 For maximum usability, monitors use \gls{multi-acq} semantics, which means a single thread can acquire multiple times the same monitor without deadlock. For example, figure \ref{fig:search} uses recursion and \gls{multi-acq} to print values inside a binary tree.
     73Notice how the counter is used without any explicit synchronisation and yet supports thread-safe semantics for both reading and writting, which is similar in usage to \CC \code{atomic} template.
     74
     75Here, the constructor(\code{?\{\}}) uses the \code{nomutex} keyword to signify that it does not acquire the monitor mutual-exclusion when constructing. This semantics is because an object not yet con\-structed should never be shared and therefore does not require mutual exclusion. The prefix increment operator uses \code{mutex} to protect the incrementing process from race conditions. Finally, there is a conversion operator from \code{counter_t} to \code{size_t}. This conversion may or may not require the \code{mutex} keyword depending on whether or not reading a \code{size_t} is an atomic operation.
     76
     77For maximum usability, monitors use \gls{multi-acq} semantics, which means a single thread can acquire the same monitor multiple times without deadlock. For example, figure \ref{fig:search} uses recursion and \gls{multi-acq} to print values inside a binary tree.
    7878\begin{figure}
    7979\label{fig:search}
    … …  
    9595\end{figure}
    9696
    97 Having both \code{mutex} and \code{nomutex} keywords is redundant based on the meaning of a routine having neither of these keywords. For example, given a routine without qualifiers \code{void foo(counter_t & this)}, then it is reasonable that it should default to the safest option \code{mutex}, whereas assuming \code{nomutex} is unsafe and may cause subtle errors. In fact, \code{nomutex} is the "normal" parameter behaviour, with the \code{nomutex} keyword effectively stating explicitly that "this routine is not special". Another alternative is making exactly one of these keywords mandatory, which would provide the same semantics but without the ambiguity of supporting routines with neither keyword. Mandatory keywords would also have the added benefit of being self-documented but at the cost of extra typing. While there are several benefits to mandatory keywords, they do bring a few challenges. Mandatory keywords in \CFA would imply that the compiler must know without doubt whether or not a parameter is a monitor or not. Since \CFA relies heavily on traits as an abstraction mechanism, the distinction between a type that is a monitor and a type that looks like a monitor can become blurred. For this reason, \CFA only has the \code{mutex} keyword and uses no keyword to mean \code{nomutex}.
     97Having both \code{mutex} and \code{nomutex} keywords is redundant based on the meaning of a routine having neither of these keywords. For example, given a routine without qualifiers \code{void foo(counter_t & this)}, then it is reasonable that it should default to the safest option \code{mutex}, whereas assuming \code{nomutex} is unsafe and may cause subtle errors. In fact, \code{nomutex} is the ``normal'' parameter behaviour, with the \code{nomutex} keyword effectively stating explicitly that ``this routine is not special''. Another alternative is making exactly one of these keywords mandatory, which provides the same semantics but without the ambiguity of supporting routines with neither keyword. Mandatory keywords would also have the added benefit of being self-documented but at the cost of extra typing. While there are several benefits to mandatory keywords, they do bring a few challenges. Mandatory keywords in \CFA would imply that the compiler must know without doubt whether or not a parameter is a monitor or not. Since \CFA relies heavily on traits as an abstraction mechanism, the distinction between a type that is a monitor and a type that looks like a monitor can become blurred. For this reason, \CFA only has the \code{mutex} keyword and uses no keyword to mean \code{nomutex}.
    9898
    9999The next semantic decision is to establish when \code{mutex} may be used as a type qualifier. Consider the following declarations:
    … …  
    113113int f5(monitor * mutex m []); //Not Okay : Array of unkown length
    114114\end{cfacode}
    115 Note that not all array functions are actually distinct in the type system sense. However, even the code generation could tell the difference, the extra information is still not sufficient to extend meaningfully the monitor call semantic.
    116 
    117 Unlike object-oriented monitors, where calling a mutex member \emph{implicitly} acquires mutual-exclusion often receives an object, \CFA uses an explicit mechanism to acquire mutual-exclusion. A consequence of this approach is that it extends naturally to multi-monitor calls.
     115Note that not all array functions are actually distinct in the type system. However, even if the code generation could tell the difference, the extra information is still not sufficient to extend meaningfully the monitor call semantic.
     116
     117Unlike object-oriented monitors, where calling a mutex member \emph{implicitly} acquires mutual-exclusion of the receiver object, \CFA uses an explicit mechanism to acquire mutual-exclusion. A consequence of this approach is that it extends naturally to multi-monitor calls.
    118118\begin{cfacode}
    119119int f(MonitorA & mutex a, MonitorB & mutex b);
    … …  
    123123f(a,b);
    124124\end{cfacode}
    125 The capacity to acquire multiple locks before entering a critical section is called \emph{\gls{bulk-acq}}. In practice, writing multi-locking routines that do not lead to deadlocks is tricky. Having language support for such a feature is therefore a significant asset for \CFA. In the case presented above, \CFA guarantees that the order of aquisition is consistent across calls to routines using the same monitors as arguments. However, since \CFA monitors use \gls{multi-acq} locks, users can effectively force the acquiring order. For example, notice which routines use \code{mutex}/\code{nomutex} and how this affects aquiring order:
     125While OO monitors could be extended with a mutex qualifier for multiple-monitor calls, no example of this feature could be found. The capacity to acquire multiple locks before entering a critical section is called \emph{\gls{bulk-acq}}. In practice, writing multi-locking routines that do not lead to deadlocks is tricky. Having language support for such a feature is therefore a significant asset for \CFA. In the case presented above, \CFA guarantees that the order of aquisition is consistent across calls to different routines using the same monitors as arguments. This consistent ordering means acquiring multiple monitors in the way is safe from deadlock. However, users can still force the acquiring order. For example, notice which routines use \code{mutex}/\code{nomutex} and how this affects aquiring order:
    126126\begin{cfacode}
    127127void foo(A & mutex a, B & mutex b) { //acquire a & b
    … …  
    139139The \gls{multi-acq} monitor lock allows a monitor lock to be acquired by both \code{bar} or \code{baz} and acquired again in \code{foo}. In the calls to \code{bar} and \code{baz} the monitors are acquired in opposite order.
    140140
    141 However, such use leads to the lock acquiring order problem. In the example above, the user uses implicit ordering in the case of function \code{foo} but explicit ordering in the case of \code{bar} and \code{baz}. This subtle mistake means that calling these routines concurrently may lead to deadlock and is therefore undefined behavior. As shown on several occasion\cit, solving this problem requires:
     141However, such use leads to the lock acquiring order problem. In the example above, the user uses implicit ordering in the case of function \code{foo} but explicit ordering in the case of \code{bar} and \code{baz}. This subtle mistake means that calling these routines concurrently may lead to deadlock and is therefore undefined behavior. As shown\cit, solving this problem requires:
    142142\begin{enumerate}
    143143        \item Dynamically tracking of the monitor-call order.
    144144        \item Implement rollback semantics.
    145145\end{enumerate}
    146 While the first requirement is already a significant constraint on the system, implementing a general rollback semantics in a C-like language is prohibitively complex \cit. In \CFA, users simply need to be carefull when acquiring multiple monitors at the same time or only use \gls{bulk-acq} of all the monitors.
    147 
    148 \Gls{multi-acq} and \gls{bulk-acq} can be used together in interesting ways, for example:
     146While the first requirement is already a significant constraint on the system, implementing a general rollback semantics in a C-like language is prohibitively complex \cit. In \CFA, users simply need to be carefull when acquiring multiple monitors at the same time or only use \gls{bulk-acq} of all the monitors. While \CFA provides only a partial solution, many system provide no solution and the \CFA partial solution handles many useful cases.
     147
     148For example, \gls{multi-acq} and \gls{bulk-acq} can be used together in interesting ways:
    149149\begin{cfacode}
    150150monitor bank { ... };
    … …  
    157157}
    158158\end{cfacode}
    159 This example shows a trivial solution to the bank account transfer problem\cit. Without \gls{multi-acq} and \gls{bulk-acq}, the solution to this problem is much more involved and requires carefull engineering.
    160 
    161 \subsubsection{\code{mutex} statement} \label{mutex-stmt}
     159This example shows a trivial solution to the bank-account transfer-problem\cit. Without \gls{multi-acq} and \gls{bulk-acq}, the solution to this problem is much more involved and requires carefull engineering.
     160
     161\subsection{\code{mutex} statement} \label{mutex-stmt}
    162162
    163163The call semantics discussed aboved have one software engineering issue, only a named routine can acquire the mutual-exclusion of a set of monitor. \CFA offers the \code{mutex} statement to workaround the need for unnecessary names, avoiding a major software engineering problem\cit. Listing \ref{lst:mutex-stmt} shows an example of the \code{mutex} statement, which introduces a new scope in which the mutual-exclusion of a set of monitor is acquired. Beyond naming, the \code{mutex} statement has no semantic difference from a routine call with \code{mutex} parameters.
    … …  
    218218\end{cfacode}
    219219
     220Like threads and coroutines, monitors are defined in terms of traits with some additional language support in the form of the \code{monitor} keyword. The monitor trait is :
     221\begin{cfacode}
     222trait is_monitor(dtype T) {
     223        monitor_desc * get_monitor( T & );
     224        void ^?{}( T & mutex );
     225};
     226\end{cfacode}
     227Note that the destructor of a monitor must be a \code{mutex} routine. This requirement ensures that the destructor has mutual-exclusion. As with any object, any call to a monitor, using \code{mutex} or otherwise, is Undefined Behaviour after the destructor has run.
    220228
    221229% ======================================================================
    … …  
    248256\end{cfacode}
    249257
    250 There are two details to note here. First, the \code{signal} is a delayed operation, it only unblocks the waiting thread when it reaches the end of the critical section. This semantic is needed to respect mutual-exclusion. Second, in \CFA, a \code{condition} variable can be stored/created independently of a monitor. Here routine \code{foo} waits for the \code{signal} from \code{bar} before making further progress, effectively ensuring a basic ordering.
    251 
    252 An important aspect of the implementation is that \CFA does not allow barging, which means that once function \code{bar} releases the monitor, foo is guaranteed to resume immediately after (unless some other thread waited on the same condition). This guarantees offers the benefit of not having to loop arount waits in order to guarantee that a condition is still met. The main reason \CFA offers this guarantee is that users can easily introduce barging if it becomes a necessity but adding barging prevention or barging avoidance is more involved without language support. Supporting barging prevention as well as extending internal scheduling to multiple monitors is the main source of complexity in the design of \CFA concurrency.
     258There are two details to note here. First, the \code{signal} is a delayed operation, it only unblocks the waiting thread when it reaches the end of the critical section. This semantic is needed to respect mutual-exclusion. The alternative is to return immediately after the call to \code{signal}, which is significantly more restrictive. Second, in \CFA, while it is common to store a \code{condition} as a field of the monitor, a \code{condition} variable can be stored/created independently of a monitor. Here routine \code{foo} waits for the \code{signal} from \code{bar} before making further progress, effectively ensuring a basic ordering.
     259
     260An important aspect of the implementation is that \CFA does not allow barging, which means that once function \code{bar} releases the monitor, \code{foo} is guaranteed to resume immediately after (unless some other thread waited on the same condition). This guarantees offers the benefit of not having to loop arount waits in order to guarantee that a condition is still met. The main reason \CFA offers this guarantee is that users can easily introduce barging if it becomes a necessity but adding barging prevention or barging avoidance is more involved without language support. Supporting barging prevention as well as extending internal scheduling to multiple monitors is the main source of complexity in the design of \CFA concurrency.
    253261
    254262% ======================================================================
    … …  
    257265% ======================================================================
    258266% ======================================================================
    259 It is easier to understand the problem of multi-monitor scheduling using a series of pseudo-code. Note that for simplicity in the following snippets of pseudo-code, waiting and signalling is done using an implicit condition variable, like Java built-in monitors. Indeed, \code{wait} statements always use a single condition as paremeter and waits on the monitors associated with the condition.
     267It is easier to understand the problem of multi-monitor scheduling using a series of pseudo-code. Note that for simplicity in the following snippets of pseudo-code, waiting and signalling is done using an implicit condition variable, like Java built-in monitors. Indeed, \code{wait} statements always use the implicit condition as paremeter and explicitly names the monitors (A and B) associated with the condition. Note that in \CFA, condition variables are tied to a set of monitors on first use (called branding) which means that using internal scheduling with distinct sets of monitors requires one condition variable per set of monitors.
    260268
    261269\begin{multicols}{2}
    … …  
    295303\end{pseudo}
    296304\end{multicols}
    297 This version uses \gls{bulk-acq} (denoted using the \& symbol), but the presence of multiple monitors does not add a particularly new meaning. Synchronization happens between the two threads in exactly the same way and order. The only difference is that mutual exclusion covers more monitors. On the implementation side, handling multiple monitors does add a degree of complexity as the next few examples demonstrate.
    298 
    299 While deadlock issues can occur when nesting monitors, these issues are only a symptom of the fact that locks, and by extension monitors, are not perfectly composable. For monitors, a well known deadlock problem is the Nested Monitor Problem\cit, which occurs when a \code{wait} is made on a thread that holds more than one monitor. For example, the following pseudo-code will run into the nested monitor problem :
     305This version uses \gls{bulk-acq} (denoted using the {\sf\&} symbol), but the presence of multiple monitors does not add a particularly new meaning. Synchronization happens between the two threads in exactly the same way and order. The only difference is that mutual exclusion covers more monitors. On the implementation side, handling multiple monitors does add a degree of complexity as the next few examples demonstrate.
     306
     307While deadlock issues can occur when nesting monitors, these issues are only a symptom of the fact that locks, and by extension monitors, are not perfectly composable. For monitors, a well known deadlock problem is the Nested Monitor Problem\cit, which occurs when a \code{wait} is made by a thread that holds more than one monitor. For example, the following pseudo-code runs into the nested-monitor problem :
    300308\begin{multicols}{2}
    301309\begin{pseudo}
    … …  
    317325\end{pseudo}
    318326\end{multicols}
     327
     328The \code{wait} only releases monitor \code{B} so the signalling thread cannot acquire monitor \code{A} to get to the \code{signal}. Attempting release of all acquired monitors at the \code{wait} results in another set of problems such as releasing monitor \code{C}, which has nothing to do with the \code{signal}.
     329
    319330However, for monitors as for locks, it is possible to write a program using nesting without encountering any problems if nesting is done correctly. For example, the next pseudo-code snippet acquires monitors {\sf A} then {\sf B} before waiting, while only acquiring {\sf B} when signalling, effectively avoiding the nested monitor problem.
    320331
    … …  
    339350\end{multicols}
    340351
    341 Listing \ref{lst:int-bulk-pseudo} shows an example where \gls{bulk-acq} adds a significant layer of complexity to the internal signalling semantics. Listing \ref{lst:int-bulk-cfa} shows the corresponding \CFA code which implements the pseudo-code in listing \ref{lst:int-bulk-pseudo}. Note that listing \ref{lst:int-bulk-cfa} uses non-\code{mutex} parameter to introduce monitor \code{b} into context. However, for the purpose of translating the given pseudo-code into \CFA-code any method of introducing new monitors into context, other than a \code{mutex} parameter, is acceptable, e.g. global variables, pointer parameters or using locals with the \code{mutex}-statement.
     352% ======================================================================
     353% ======================================================================
     354\subsection{Internal Scheduling - in depth}
     355% ======================================================================
     356% ======================================================================
     357
     358A larger example is presented to show complex issuesfor \gls{bulk-acq} and all the implementation options are analyzed. Listing \ref{lst:int-bulk-pseudo} shows an example where \gls{bulk-acq} adds a significant layer of complexity to the internal signalling semantics, and listing \ref{lst:int-bulk-cfa} shows the corresponding \CFA code which implements the pseudo-code in listing \ref{lst:int-bulk-pseudo}. For the purpose of translating the given pseudo-code into \CFA-code any method of introducing monitor into context, other than a \code{mutex} parameter, is acceptable, e.g., global variables, pointer parameters or using locals with the \code{mutex}-statement.
    342359
    343360\begin{figure}[!b]
    … …  
    376393
    377394\begin{figure}[!b]
     395\begin{center}
     396\begin{cfacode}[xleftmargin=.4\textwidth]
     397monitor A a;
     398monitor B b;
     399condition c;
     400\end{cfacode}
     401\end{center}
    378402\begin{multicols}{2}
    379403Waiting thread
    380404\begin{cfacode}
    381 monitor A;
    382 monitor B;
    383 extern condition c;
    384 void foo(A & mutex a, B & b) {
     405mutex(a) {
    385406        //Code Section 1
    386407        mutex(a, b) {
    … …  
    397418Signalling thread
    398419\begin{cfacode}
    399 monitor A;
    400 monitor B;
    401 extern condition c;
    402 void foo(A & mutex a, B & b) {
     420mutex(a) {
    403421        //Code Section 5
    404422        mutex(a, b) {
    … …  
    415433\end{figure}
    416434
    417 It is particularly important to pay attention to code sections 4 and 8, which are where the existing semantics of internal scheduling need to be extended for multiple monitors. The root of the problem is that \gls{bulk-acq} is used in a context where one of the monitors is already acquired and is why it is important to define the behaviour of the previous pseudo-code. When the signaller thread reaches the location where it should "release A \& B" (line 16), it must actually transfer ownership of monitor B to the waiting thread. This ownership trasnfer is required in order to prevent barging. Since the signalling thread still needs monitor A, simply waking up the waiting thread is not an option because it would violate mutual exclusion. There are three options.
     435The complexity begins at code sections 4 and 8, which are where the existing semantics of internal scheduling need to be extended for multiple monitors. The root of the problem is that \gls{bulk-acq} is used in a context where one of the monitors is already acquired and is why it is important to define the behaviour of the previous pseudo-code. When the signaller thread reaches the location where it should ``release \code{A & B}'' (line 16), it must actually transfer ownership of monitor \code{B} to the waiting thread. This ownership trasnfer is required in order to prevent barging. Since the signalling thread still needs monitor \code{A}, simply waking up the waiting thread is not an option because it violates mutual exclusion. There are three options.
    418436
    419437\subsubsection{Delaying signals}
    420 The first more obvious solution to solve the problem of multi-monitor scheduling is to keep ownership of all locks until the last lock is ready to be transferred. It can be argued that that moment is the correct time to transfer ownership when the last lock is no longer needed because this semantics fits most closely to the behaviour of single monitor scheduling. This solution has the main benefit of transferring ownership of groups of monitors, which simplifies the semantics from mutiple objects to a single group of objects, effectively making the existing single monitor semantic viable by simply changing monitors to monitor groups.
     438The obvious solution to solve the problem of multi-monitor scheduling is to keep ownership of all locks until the last lock is ready to be transferred. It can be argued that that moment is when the last lock is no longer needed because this semantics fits most closely to the behaviour of single-monitor scheduling. This solution has the main benefit of transferring ownership of groups of monitors, which simplifies the semantics from mutiple objects to a single group of objects, effectively making the existing single-monitor semantic viable by simply changing monitors to monitor groups.
    421439\begin{multicols}{2}
    422440Waiter
    … …  
    443461\end{multicols}
    444462However, this solution can become much more complicated depending on what is executed while secretly holding B (at line 10). Indeed, nothing prevents signalling monitor A on a different condition variable:
    445 \begin{multicols}{2}
    446 Thread 1
     463\begin{figure}
     464\begin{multicols}{3}
     465Thread $\alpha$
    447466\begin{pseudo}[numbers=left, firstnumber=1]
    448467acquire A
    … …  
    453472\end{pseudo}
    454473
    455 Thread 2
    456 \begin{pseudo}[numbers=left, firstnumber=6]
    457 acquire A
    458         wait A
    459 release A
    460 \end{pseudo}
    461 
    462474\columnbreak
    463475
    464 Thread 3
    465 \begin{pseudo}[numbers=left, firstnumber=9]
     476Thread $\gamma$
     477\begin{pseudo}[numbers=left, firstnumber=1]
    466478acquire A
    467479        acquire A & B
    468480                signal A & B
    469481        release A & B
    470         //Secretly keep B here
    471482        signal A
    472483release A
    473 //Wakeup thread 1 or 2?
    474 //Who wakes up the other thread?
    475 \end{pseudo}
     484\end{pseudo}
     485
     486\columnbreak
     487
     488Thread $\beta$
     489\begin{pseudo}[numbers=left, firstnumber=1]
     490acquire A
     491        wait A
     492release A
     493\end{pseudo}
     494
    476495\end{multicols}
     496\caption{Dependency graph}
     497\label{lst:dependency}
     498\end{figure}
    477499
    478500The goal in this solution is to avoid the need to transfer ownership of a subset of the condition monitors. However, this goal is unreacheable in the previous example. Depending on the order of signals (line 12 and 15) two cases can happen.
    … …  
    484506Note that ordering is not determined by a race condition but by whether signalled threads are enqueued in FIFO or FILO order. However, regardless of the answer, users can move line 15 before line 11 and get the reverse effect.
    485507
    486 In both cases, the threads need to be able to distinguish, on a per monitor basis, which ones need to be released and which ones need to be transferred, which means monitors cannot be handled as a single homogenous group and therefore invalidates the main benefit of this approach.
     508In both cases, the threads need to be able to distinguish, on a per monitor basis, which ones need to be released and which ones need to be transferred, which means monitors cannot be handled as a single homogenous group and therefore effectively precludes this approach.
    487509
    488510\subsubsection{Dependency graphs}
    489 In the Listing 1 pseudo-code, there is a solution which statisfies both barging prevention and mutual exclusion. If ownership of both monitors is transferred to the waiter when the signaller releases A and then the waiter transfers back ownership of A when it releases it, then the problem is solved. Dynamically finding the correct order is therefore the second possible solution. The problem it encounters is that it effectively boils down to resolving a dependency graph of ownership requirements. Here even the simplest of code snippets requires two transfers and it seems to increase in a manner closer to polynomial. For example, the following code, which is just a direct extension to three monitors, requires at least three ownership transfer and has multiple solutions:
     511In the listing \ref{lst:int-bulk-pseudo} pseudo-code, there is a solution which statisfies both barging prevention and mutual exclusion. If ownership of both monitors is transferred to the waiter when the signaller releases \code{A & B} and then the waiter transfers back ownership of \code{A} when it releases it, then the problem is solved (\code{B} is no longer in use at this point). Dynamically finding the correct order is therefore the second possible solution. The problem it encounters is that it effectively boils down to resolving a dependency graph of ownership requirements. Here even the simplest of code snippets requires two transfers and it seems to increase in a manner closer to polynomial. For example, the following code, which is just a direct extension to three monitors, requires at least three ownership transfer and has multiple solutions:
    490512
    491513\begin{multicols}{2}
    … …  
    514536
    515537\begin{figure}
    516 \begin{multicols}{3}
    517 Thread $\alpha$
    518 \begin{pseudo}[numbers=left, firstnumber=1]
    519 acquire A
    520         acquire A & B
    521                 wait A & B
    522         release A & B
    523 release A
    524 \end{pseudo}
    525 
    526 \columnbreak
    527 
    528 Thread $\gamma$
    529 \begin{pseudo}[numbers=left, firstnumber=1]
    530 acquire A
    531         acquire A & B
    532                 signal A & B
    533         release A & B
    534         signal A
    535 release A
    536 \end{pseudo}
    537 
    538 \columnbreak
    539 
    540 Thread $\beta$
    541 \begin{pseudo}[numbers=left, firstnumber=1]
    542 acquire A
    543         wait A
    544 release A
    545 \end{pseudo}
    546 
    547 \end{multicols}
    548 \caption{Dependency graph}
    549 \label{lst:dependency}
    550 \end{figure}
    551 
    552 \begin{figure}
    553538\begin{center}
    554539\input{dependency}
    555540\end{center}
     541\caption{Dependency graph of the statements in listing \ref{lst:dependency}}
    556542\label{fig:dependency}
    557 \caption{Dependency graph of the statements in listing \ref{lst:dependency}}
    558543\end{figure}
    559544
    560 Listing \ref{lst:dependency} is the three thread example rewritten for dependency graphs as well as the corresponding dependency graph. Figure \ref{fig:dependency} shows the corresponding dependency graph that results, where every node is a statement of one of the three threads, and the arrows the dependency of that statement. The extra challenge is that this dependency graph is effectively post-mortem, but the run time system needs to be able to build and solve these graphs as the dependency unfolds. Resolving dependency graph being a complex and expensive endeavour, this solution is not the preffered one.
     545Listing \ref{lst:dependency} is the three thread example rewritten for dependency graphs. Figure \ref{fig:dependency} shows the corresponding dependency graph that results, where every node is a statement of one of the three threads, and the arrows the dependency of that statement (e.g., $\alpha1$ must happen before $\alpha2$). The extra challenge is that this dependency graph is effectively post-mortem, but the runtime system needs to be able to build and solve these graphs as the dependency unfolds. Resolving dependency graph being a complex and expensive endeavour, this solution is not the preffered one.
    561546
    562547\subsubsection{Partial signalling} \label{partial-sig}
    563 Finally, the solution that is chosen for \CFA is to use partial signalling. Consider the following case:
    564 
    565 \begin{multicols}{2}
    566 \begin{pseudo}[numbers=left]
    567 acquire A
    568         acquire A & B
    569                 wait A & B
    570         release A & B
    571 release A
    572 \end{pseudo}
    573 
    574 \columnbreak
    575 
    576 \begin{pseudo}[numbers=left, firstnumber=6]
    577 acquire A
    578         acquire A & B
    579                 signal A & B
    580         release A & B
    581         //... More code
    582 release A
    583 \end{pseudo}
    584 \end{multicols}
    585 The partial signalling solution transfers ownership of monitor B at lines 10 but does not wake the waiting thread since it is still using monitor A. Only when it reaches line 11 does it actually wakeup the waiting thread. This solution has the benefit that complexity is encapsulated into only two actions, passing monitors to the next owner when they should be release and conditionally waking threads if all conditions are met. This solution has a much simpler implementation than a dependency graph solving algorithm which is why it was chosen.
     548Finally, the solution that is chosen for \CFA is to use partial signalling. Again using listing \ref{lst:int-bulk-pseudo}, the partial signalling solution transfers ownership of monitor B at lines 10 but does not wake the waiting thread since it is still using monitor A. Only when it reaches line 11 does it actually wakeup the waiting thread. This solution has the benefit that complexity is encapsulated into only two actions, passing monitors to the next owner when they should be release and conditionally waking threads if all conditions are met. This solution has a much simpler implementation than a dependency graph solving algorithm which is why it was chosen. Furthermore, after being fully implemented, this solution does not appear to have any downsides worth mentionning.
    586549
    587550% ======================================================================
    … …  
    590553% ======================================================================
    591554% ======================================================================
    592 An important note is that, until now, signalling a monitor was a delayed operation. The ownership of the monitor is transferred only when the monitor would have otherwise been released, not at the point of the \code{signal} statement. However, in some cases, it may be more convenient for users to immediately transfer ownership to the thread that is waiting for cooperation, which is achieved using the \code{signal_block} routine\footnote{name to be discussed}.
    593 
    594 The example in listing \ref{lst:datingservice} highlights the difference in behaviour. As mentioned, \code{signal} only transfers ownership once the current critical section exits, this behaviour cause the need for additional synchronisation when a two-way handshake is needed. To avoid this extraneous synchronisation, the \code{condition} type offers the \code{signal_block} routine which handle two-way handshakes as shown in the example. This removes the need for a second condition variables and simplifies programming. Like every other monitor semantic, \code{signal_block} uses barging prevention which means mutual-exclusion is baton-passed both on the frond-end and the back-end of the call to \code{signal_block}, meaning no other thread can acquire the monitor neither before nor after the call.
    595555\begin{figure}
    596556\begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
    … …  
    622582                girlPhoneNo = phoneNo;
    623583
    624                 //wake boy fron chair
     584                //wake boy from chair
    625585                signal(exchange);
    626586        }
    … …  
    669629                girlPhoneNo = phoneNo;
    670630
    671                 //wake boy fron chair
     631                //wake boy from chair
    672632                signal(exchange);
    673633        }
    … …  
    696656\label{lst:datingservice}
    697657\end{figure}
     658An important note is that, until now, signalling a monitor was a delayed operation. The ownership of the monitor is transferred only when the monitor would have otherwise been released, not at the point of the \code{signal} statement. However, in some cases, it may be more convenient for users to immediately transfer ownership to the thread that is waiting for cooperation, which is achieved using the \code{signal_block} routine\footnote{name to be discussed}.
     659
     660The example in listing \ref{lst:datingservice} highlights the difference in behaviour. As mentioned, \code{signal} only transfers ownership once the current critical section exits, this behaviour requires additional synchronisation when a two-way handshake is needed. To avoid this extraneous synchronisation, the \code{condition} type offers the \code{signal_block} routine, which handles the two-way handshake as shown in the example. This removes the need for a second condition variables and simplifies programming. Like every other monitor semantic, \code{signal_block} uses barging prevention, which means mutual-exclusion is baton-passed both on the frond-end and the back-end of the call to \code{signal_block}, meaning no other thread can acquire the monitor neither before nor after the call.
    698661
    699662% ======================================================================
    … …  
    702665% ======================================================================
    703666% ======================================================================
    704 An alternative to internal scheduling is to use external scheduling.
     667An alternative to internal scheduling is external scheduling, e.g., in \uC.
    705668\begin{center}
    706 \begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
    707 Internal Scheduling & External Scheduling \\
     669\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|}
     670Internal Scheduling & External Scheduling & Go\\
    708671\hline
    709 \begin{ucppcode}
     672\begin{ucppcode}[tabsize=3]
    710673_Monitor Semaphore {
    711674        condition c;
    … …  
    713676public:
    714677        void P() {
    715                 if(inUse) wait(c);
     678                if(inUse)
     679                        wait(c);
    716680                inUse = true;
    717681        }
    … …  
    721685        }
    722686}
    723 \end{ucppcode}&\begin{ucppcode}
     687\end{ucppcode}&\begin{ucppcode}[tabsize=3]
    724688_Monitor Semaphore {
    725689
    … …  
    727691public:
    728692        void P() {
    729                 if(inUse) _Accept(V);
     693                if(inUse)
     694                        _Accept(V);
    730695                inUse = true;
    731696        }
    … …  
    735700        }
    736701}
    737 \end{ucppcode}
     702\end{ucppcode}&\begin{gocode}[tabsize=3]
     703type MySem struct {
     704        inUse bool
     705        c     chan bool
     706}
     707
     708// acquire
     709func (s MySem) P() {
     710        if s.inUse {
     711                select {
     712                case <-s.c:
     713                }
     714        }
     715        s.inUse = true
     716}
     717
     718// release
     719func (s MySem) V() {
     720        s.inUse = false
     721
     722        //This actually deadlocks
     723        //when single thread
     724        s.c <- false
     725}
     726\end{gocode}
    738727\end{tabular}
    739728\end{center}
    740 This method is more constrained and explicit, which helps users tone down the undeterministic nature of concurrency. Indeed, as the following examples demonstrates, external scheduling allows users to wait for events from other threads without the concern of unrelated events occuring. External scheduling can generally be done either in terms of control flow (e.g., \uC with \code{_Accept}) or in terms of data (e.g. Go with channels). Of course, both of these paradigms have their own strenghts and weaknesses but for this project control-flow semantics were chosen to stay consistent with the rest of the languages semantics. Two challenges specific to \CFA arise when trying to add external scheduling with loose object definitions and multi-monitor routines. The previous example shows a simple use \code{_Accept} versus \code{wait}/\code{signal} and its advantages. Note that while other languages often use \code{accept}/\code{select} as the core external scheduling keyword, \CFA uses \code{waitfor} to prevent name collisions with existing socket \acrshort{api}s.
    741 
    742 In the case of internal scheduling, the call to \code{wait} only guarantees that \code{V} is the last routine to access the monitor. This entails that a third routine, say \code{isInUse()}, may have acquired mutual exclusion several times while routine \code{P} was waiting. On the other hand, external scheduling guarantees that while routine \code{P} was waiting, no routine other than \code{V} could acquire the monitor.
     729This method is more constrained and explicit, which helps users tone down the undeterministic nature of concurrency. Indeed, as the following examples demonstrates, external scheduling allows users to wait for events from other threads without the concern of unrelated events occuring. External scheduling can generally be done either in terms of control flow (e.g., \uC with \code{_Accept}) or in terms of data (e.g., Go with channels). Of course, both of these paradigms have their own strenghts and weaknesses but for this project control-flow semantics were chosen to stay consistent with the rest of the languages semantics. Two challenges specific to \CFA arise when trying to add external scheduling with loose object definitions and multi-monitor routines. The previous example shows a simple use \code{_Accept} versus \code{wait}/\code{signal} and its advantages. Note that while other languages often use \code{accept}/\code{select} as the core external scheduling keyword, \CFA uses \code{waitfor} to prevent name collisions with existing socket \acrshort{api}s.
     730
     731For the \code{P} member above using internal scheduling, the call to \code{wait} only guarantees that \code{V} is the last routine to access the monitor, allowing a third routine, say \code{isInUse()}, acquire mutual exclusion several times while routine \code{P} is waiting. On the other hand, external scheduling guarantees that while routine \code{P} is waiting, no routine other than \code{V} can acquire the monitor.
    743732
    744733% ======================================================================
    … …  
    747736% ======================================================================
    748737% ======================================================================
    749 In \uC, monitor declarations include an exhaustive list of monitor operations. Since \CFA is not object oriented it becomes both more difficult to implement but also less clear for the user:
     738In \uC, monitor declarations include an exhaustive list of monitor operations. Since \CFA is not object oriented, monitors become both more difficult to implement and less clear for a user:
    750739
    751740\begin{cfacode}
    … …  
    786775\end{center}
    787776
    788 There are other alternatives to these pictures, but in the case of this picture, implementing a fast accept check is relatively easy. Indeed simply updating a bitmask when the acceptor queue changes is enough to have a check that executes in a single instruction, even with a fairly large number (e.g. 128) of mutex members. This technique cannot be used in \CFA because it relies on the fact that the monitor type declares all the acceptable routines. For OO languages this does not compromise much since monitors already have an exhaustive list of member routines. However, for \CFA this is not the case; routines can be added to a type anywhere after its declaration. Its important to note that the bitmask approach does not actually require an exhaustive list of routines, but it requires a dense unique ordering of routines with an upper-bound and that ordering must be consistent across translation units.
    789 The alternative is to have a picture like this one:
     777There are other alternatives to these pictures, but in the case of this picture, implementing a fast accept check is relatively easy. Restricted to a fixed number of mutex members, N, the accept check reduces to updating a bitmask when the acceptor queue changes, a check that executes in a single instruction even with a fairly large number (e.g., 128) of mutex members. This technique cannot be used in \CFA because it relies on the fact that the monitor type enumerates (declares) all the acceptable routines. For OO languages this does not compromise much since monitors already have an exhaustive list of member routines. However, for \CFA this is not the case; routines can be added to a type anywhere after its declaration. It is important to note that the bitmask approach does not actually require an exhaustive list of routines, but it requires a dense unique ordering of routines with an upper-bound and that ordering must be consistent across translation units.
     778The alternative is to alter the implementeation like this:
    790779
    791780\begin{center}
    … …  
    793782\end{center}
    794783
    795 Not storing the mask inside the monitor means that the storage for the mask information can vary between calls to \code{waitfor}, allowing for more flexibility and extensions. Storing an array of function-pointers would solve the issue of uniquely identifying acceptable routines. However, the single instruction bitmask compare has been replaced by dereferencing a pointer followed by a linear search. Furthermore, supporting nested external scheduling may now require additionnal searches on calls to waitfor to check if a routine is already queued in.
    796 
    797 Note that in the second picture, tasks need to always keep track of through which routine they are attempting to acquire the monitor and the routine mask needs to have both a function pointer and a set of monitors, as will be discussed in the next section. These details where omitted from the picture for the sake of simplifying the representation.
    798 
    799 At this point we must make a decision between flexibility and performance. Many design decisions in \CFA achieve both flexibility and performance, for example polymorphic routines add significant flexibility but inlining them means the optimizer can easily remove any runtime cost. Here however, the cost of flexibility cannot be trivially removed. In the end, the most flexible approach has been chosen since it allows users to write programs that would otherwise be prohibitively hard to write. This decision is based on the assumption that writing fast but inflexible locks is closer to a solved problems than writing locks that are as flexible as external scheduling in \CFA.
     784Generating a mask dynamically means that the storage for the mask information can vary between calls to \code{waitfor}, allowing for more flexibility and extensions. Storing an array of accepted function-pointers replaces the single instruction bitmask compare with dereferencing a pointer followed by a linear search. Furthermore, supporting nested external scheduling (e.g., listing \ref{lst:nest-ext}) may now require additionnal searches on calls to \code{waitfor} statement to check if a routine is already queued in.
     785
     786\begin{figure}
     787\begin{cfacode}
     788monitor M {};
     789void foo( M & mutex a ) {}
     790void bar( M & mutex b ) {
     791        //Nested in the waitfor(bar, c) call
     792        waitfor(foo, b);
     793}
     794void baz( M & mutex c ) {
     795        waitfor(bar, c);
     796}
     797
     798\end{cfacode}
     799\caption{Example of nested external scheduling}
     800\label{lst:nest-ext}
     801\end{figure}
     802
     803Note that in the second picture, tasks need to always keep track of which routine they are attempting to acquire the monitor and the routine mask needs to have both a function pointer and a set of monitors, as will be discussed in the next section. These details where omitted from the picture for the sake of simplifying the representation.
     804
     805At this point, a decision must be made between flexibility and performance. Many design decisions in \CFA achieve both flexibility and performance, for example polymorphic routines add significant flexibility but inlining them means the optimizer can easily remove any runtime cost. Here however, the cost of flexibility cannot be trivially removed. In the end, the most flexible approach has been chosen since it allows users to write programs that would otherwise be prohibitively hard to write. This decision is based on the assumption that writing fast but inflexible locks is closer to a solved problems than writing locks that are as flexible as external scheduling in \CFA.
    800806
    801807% ======================================================================
    … …  
    811817void f(M & mutex a);
    812818
    813 void g(M & mutex a, M & mutex b) {
    814         waitfor(f); //ambiguous, keep a pass b or other way around?
     819void g(M & mutex b, M & mutex c) {
     820        waitfor(f); //two monitors M => unkown which to pass to f(M & mutex)
    815821}
    816822\end{cfacode}
    … …  
    828834\end{cfacode}
    829835
    830 This syntax is unambiguous. Both locks are acquired and kept. When routine \code{f} is called, the lock for monitor \code{b} is temporarily transferred from \code{g} to \code{f} (while \code{g} still holds lock \code{a}). This behavior can be extended to multi-monitor waitfor statement as follows.
     836This syntax is unambiguous. Both locks are acquired and kept by \code{g}. When routine \code{f} is called, the lock for monitor \code{b} is temporarily transferred from \code{g} to \code{f} (while \code{g} still holds lock \code{a}). This behavior can be extended to multi-monitor \code{waitfor} statement as follows.
    831837
    832838\begin{cfacode}
    … …  
    842848Note that the set of monitors passed to the \code{waitfor} statement must be entirely contained in the set of monitors already acquired in the routine. \code{waitfor} used in any other context is Undefined Behaviour.
    843849
    844 An important behavior to note is that what happens when a set of monitors only match partially :
     850An important behavior to note is when a set of monitors only match partially :
    845851
    846852\begin{cfacode}
    … …  
    865871\end{cfacode}
    866872
    867 While the equivalent can happen when using internal scheduling, the fact that conditions are specific to a set of monitors means that users have to use two different condition variables. In both cases, partially matching monitor sets does not wake-up the waiting thread. It is also important to note that in the case of external scheduling, as for routine calls, the order of parameters is important; \code{waitfor(f,a,b)} and \code{waitfor(f,b,a)} are to distinct waiting condition.
     873While the equivalent can happen when using internal scheduling, the fact that conditions are specific to a set of monitors means that users have to use two different condition variables. In both cases, partially matching monitor sets does not wake-up the waiting thread. It is also important to note that in the case of external scheduling, as for routine calls, the order of parameters is irrelevant; \code{waitfor(f,a,b)} and \code{waitfor(f,b,a)} are indistinguishable waiting condition.
    868874
    869875% ======================================================================
    … …  
    873879% ======================================================================
    874880
    875 Syntactically, the \code{waitfor} statement takes a function identifier and a set of monitors. While the set of monitors can be any list of expression, the function name is more restricted. This is because the compiler validates at compile time the validity of the waitfor statement. It checks that the set of monitor passed in matches the requirements for a function call. Listing \ref{lst:waitfor} shows various usage of the waitfor statement and which are acceptable. The choice of the function type is made ignoring any non-\code{mutex} parameter. One limitation of the current implementation is that it does not handle overloading.
     881Syntactically, the \code{waitfor} statement takes a function identifier and a set of monitors. While the set of monitors can be any list of expression, the function name is more restricted because the compiler validates at compile time the validity of the function type and the parameters used with the \code{waitfor} statement. It checks that the set of monitor passed in matches the requirements for a function call. Listing \ref{lst:waitfor} shows various usage of the waitfor statement and which are acceptable. The choice of the function type is made ignoring any non-\code{mutex} parameter. One limitation of the current implementation is that it does not handle overloading.
    876882\begin{figure}
    877883\begin{cfacode}
    … …  
    898904        waitfor(f2, a1, a2); //Incorrect : Mutex arguments don't match
    899905        waitfor(f1, 1);      //Incorrect : 1 not a mutex argument
    900         waitfor(f4, a1);     //Incorrect : f9 not a function
    901         waitfor(*fp, a1 );   //Incorrect : fp not a identifier
     906        waitfor(f9, a1);     //Incorrect : f9 function does not exist
     907        waitfor(*fp, a1 );   //Incorrect : fp not an identifier
    902908        waitfor(f4, a1);     //Incorrect : f4 ambiguous
    903909
    … …  
    909915\end{figure}
    910916
    911 Finally, for added flexibility, \CFA supports constructing complex waitfor mask using the \code{or}, \code{timeout} and \code{else}. Indeed, multiple \code{waitfor} can be chained together using \code{or}; this chain will form a single statement which will baton-pass to any one function that fits one of the function+monitor set which was passed in. To eanble users to tell which was the accepted function, \code{waitfor}s are followed by a statement (including the null statement \code{;}) or a compound statement. When multiple \code{waitfor} are chained together, only the statement corresponding to the accepted function is executed. A \code{waitfor} chain can also be followed by a \code{timeout}, to signify an upper bound on the wait, or an \code{else}, to signify that the call should be non-blocking, that is only check of a matching function already arrived and return immediately otherwise. Any and all of these clauses can be preceded by a \code{when} condition to dynamically construct the mask based on some current state. Listing \ref{lst:waitfor2}, demonstrates several complex masks and some incorrect ones.
     917Finally, for added flexibility, \CFA supports constructing complex \code{waitfor} mask using the \code{or}, \code{timeout} and \code{else}. Indeed, multiple \code{waitfor} can be chained together using \code{or}; this chain forms a single statement that uses baton-pass to any one function that fits one of the function+monitor set passed in. To eanble users to tell which accepted function is accepted, \code{waitfor}s are followed by a statement (including the null statement \code{;}) or a compound statement. When multiple \code{waitfor} are chained together, only the statement corresponding to the accepted function is executed. A \code{waitfor} chain can also be followed by a \code{timeout}, to signify an upper bound on the wait, or an \code{else}, to signify that the call should be non-blocking, that is only check of a matching function call already arrived and return immediately otherwise. Any and all of these clauses can be preceded by a \code{when} condition to dynamically construct the mask based on some current state. Listing \ref{lst:waitfor2}, demonstrates several complex masks and some incorrect ones.
    912918
    913919\begin{figure}
    … …  
    979985% ======================================================================
    980986% ======================================================================
    981 An important exception for the \code{waitfor} statement is destructor semantics. Indeed, the \code{waitfor} statement can accept any \code{mutex} routine, which counts the destructor. However, with the semantics discussed until now, waiting for the destructor does not make any sense since using an object after its destructor is called is undefined behaviour. The simplest approach to fix this hole in the semantics would be disallowing \code{waitfor} on destructor. However, a more expressive approach is to flip ordering of execution when waiting for the destructor, meaning that waiting for the destructor allows the destructor to run after the current \code{mutex} routine, similarly to how a condition is signalled.
     987An interesting use for the \code{waitfor} statement is destructor semantics. Indeed, the \code{waitfor} statement can accept any \code{mutex} routine, which includes the destructor (see section \ref{data}). However, with the semantics discussed until now, waiting for the destructor does not make any sense since using an object after its destructor is called is undefined behaviour. The simplest approach is to disallow \code{waitfor} on a destructor. However, a more expressive approach is to flip execution ordering when waiting for the destructor, meaning that waiting for the destructor allows the destructor to run after the current \code{mutex} routine, similarly to how a condition is signalled.
    982988\begin{figure}
    983989\begin{cfacode}
    … …  
    9991005\label{lst:dtor-order}
    10001006\end{figure}
    1001 For example, listing \ref{lst:dtor-order} shows an example of an executor with an infinite loop, which waits for the destructor to break out of this loop.
     1007For example, listing \ref{lst:dtor-order} shows an example of an executor with an infinite loop, which waits for the destructor to break out of this loop. Switching the semantic meaning introduces an idiomatic way to terminate a task and/or wait for its termination via destruction.

  • doc/proposals/concurrency/text/parallelism.tex

    ra2ea829 rb9d0fb6  
    1616
    1717\subsection{Fibers : user-level threads without preemption}
    18 A popular varient of \glspl{uthread} is what is often refered to as \glspl{fiber}. However, \glspl{fiber} do not present meaningful semantical differences with \glspl{uthread}. Advocates of \glspl{fiber} list their high performance and ease of implementation as majors strenghts of \glspl{fiber} but the performance difference between \glspl{uthread} and \glspl{fiber} is controversial, and the ease of implementation, while true, is a weak argument in the context of language design. Therefore this proposal largely ignore fibers.
     18A popular varient of \glspl{uthread} is what is often refered to as \glspl{fiber}. However, \glspl{fiber} do not present meaningful semantical differences with \glspl{uthread}. The significant difference between \glspl{uthread} and \glspl{fiber} is the lack of \gls{preemption} in the later one. Advocates of \glspl{fiber} list their high performance and ease of implementation as majors strenghts of \glspl{fiber} but the performance difference between \glspl{uthread} and \glspl{fiber} is controversial, and the ease of implementation, while true, is a weak argument in the context of language design. Therefore this proposal largely ignores fibers.
    1919
    2020An example of a language that uses fibers is Go~\cite{Go}
    … …  
    2626
    2727\subsection{Paradigm performance}
    28 While the choice between the three paradigms listed above may have significant performance implication, it is difficult to pindown the performance implications of chosing a model at the language level. Indeed, in many situations one of these paradigms may show better performance but it all strongly depends on the workload. Having a large amount of mostly independent units of work to execute almost guarantess that the \gls{pool} based system has the best performance thanks to the lower memory overhead (i.e., not thread stack per job). However, interactions among jobs can easily exacerbate contention. User-level threads allow fine-grain context switching, which results in better resource utilisation, but a context switch is more expensive and the extra control means users need to tweak more variables to get the desired performance. Finally, if the units of uninterrupted work are large enough the paradigm choice is largely amortised by the actual work done.
     28While the choice between the three paradigms listed above may have significant performance implication, it is difficult to pindown the performance implications of chosing a model at the language level. Indeed, in many situations one of these paradigms may show better performance but it all strongly depends on the workload. Having a large amount of mostly independent units of work to execute almost guarantess that the \gls{pool} based system has the best performance thanks to the lower memory overhead (i.e., no thread stack per job). However, interactions among jobs can easily exacerbate contention. User-level threads allow fine-grain context switching, which results in better resource utilisation, but a context switch is more expensive and the extra control means users need to tweak more variables to get the desired performance. Finally, if the units of uninterrupted work are large enough the paradigm choice is largely amortised by the actual work done.
    2929
    3030\section{The \protect\CFA\ Kernel : Processors, Clusters and Threads}\label{kernel}
     31
     32\Glspl{cfacluster} have not been fully implmented in the context of this thesis, currently \CFA only supports one \gls{cfacluster}, the initial one. The objective of \gls{cfacluster} is to group \gls{kthread} with identical settings together. \Glspl{uthread} can be scheduled on a \glspl{kthread} of a given \gls{cfacluster}, allowing organization between \glspl{kthread} and \glspl{uthread}. It is important that \glspl{kthread} belonging to a same \glspl{cfacluster} have homogenous settings, otherwise migrating a \gls{uthread} from one \gls{kthread} to the other can cause issues.
    3133
    3234\subsection{Future Work: Machine setup}\label{machine}
    … …  
    3436
    3537\subsection{Paradigms}\label{cfaparadigms}
    36 Given these building blocks, it is possible to reproduce all three of the popular paradigms. Indeed, \glspl{uthread} is the default paradigm in \CFA. However, disabling \glspl{preemption} on the \gls{cfacluster} means \glspl{cfathread} effectively become \glspl{fiber}. Since several \glspl{cfacluster} with different scheduling policy can coexist in the same application, this allows \glspl{fiber} and \glspl{uthread} to coexist in the runtime of an application. Finally, it is possible to build executors for thread pools from \glspl{uthread} or \glspl{fiber}.
     38Given these building blocks, it is possible to reproduce all three of the popular paradigms. Indeed, \glspl{uthread} is the default paradigm in \CFA. However, disabling \gls{preemption} on the \gls{cfacluster} means \glspl{cfathread} effectively become \glspl{fiber}. Since several \glspl{cfacluster} with different scheduling policy can coexist in the same application, this allows \glspl{fiber} and \glspl{uthread} to coexist in the runtime of an application. Finally, it is possible to build executors for thread pools from \glspl{uthread} or \glspl{fiber}.

  • doc/proposals/concurrency/text/results.tex

    ra2ea829 rb9d0fb6  
    4747\CFA Coroutines         & 38            & 38            & 0    \\
    4848\CFA Threads            & 102           & 102.39        & 1.57 \\
    49 $\mu$++ Coroutines      & 46            & 46.68 & 0.47 \\
    50 $\mu$++ Threads         & 98            & 99.39 & 1.52 \\
     49\uC Coroutines          & 46            & 46.68 & 0.47 \\
     50\uC Threads                     & 98            & 99.39 & 1.52 \\
    5151\hline
    5252\end{tabular}
    … …  
    6464C routine                                               & 2             & 2             & 0      \\
    6565Pthreads Mutex Lock                             & 31            & 31.86 & 0.99   \\
    66 $\mu$++ \code{monitor} member routine   & 30            & 30            & 0      \\
     66\uC \code{monitor} member routine               & 30            & 30            & 0      \\
    6767\CFA \code{mutex} routine, 1 argument   & 46            & 46.14 & 0.74   \\
    6868\CFA \code{mutex} routine, 2 argument   & 82            & 83            & 1.93   \\
    … …  
    8181\multicolumn{1}{c |}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c |}{ Median } &\multicolumn{1}{c |}{ Average } & \multicolumn{1}{c |}{ Standard Deviation} \\
    8282\hline
    83 $\mu$++ \code{signal}                           & 322           & 322.57        & 2.77  \\
     83\uC \code{signal}                                       & 322           & 322.57        & 2.77  \\
    8484\CFA \code{signal}, 1 \code{monitor}    & 1145  & 1163.64       & 27.52 \\
    8585\CFA \code{signal}, 2 \code{monitor}    & 1531  & 1550.75       & 32.77 \\
    … …  
    9898\multicolumn{1}{c |}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c |}{ Median } &\multicolumn{1}{c |}{ Average } & \multicolumn{1}{c |}{ Standard Deviation} \\
    9999\hline
    100 $\mu$++ \code{Accept}                           & 349           & 339.32        & 3.14  \\
     100\uC \code{Accept}                                       & 349           & 339.32        & 3.14  \\
    101101\CFA \code{waitfor}, 1 \code{monitor}   & 1155.5        & 1142.04       & 25.23 \\
    102102\CFA \code{waitfor}, 2 \code{monitor}   & 1361  & 1376.75       & 28.81 \\
    … …  
    115115\multicolumn{1}{c |}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c |}{ Median } &\multicolumn{1}{c |}{ Average } & \multicolumn{1}{c |}{ Standard Deviation} \\
    116116\hline
    117 Pthreads                        & 26974.5       & 26977 & 124.12 \\
    118 \CFA Coroutines         & 5             & 5             & 0      \\
    119 \CFA Threads            & 1122.5        & 1109.86       & 36.54  \\
    120 $\mu$++ Coroutines      & 106           & 107.04        & 1.61   \\
    121 $\mu$++ Threads         & 525.5 & 533.04        & 11.14  \\
     117Pthreads                & 26974.5       & 26977 & 124.12 \\
     118\CFA Coroutines & 5             & 5             & 0      \\
     119\CFA Threads    & 1122.5        & 1109.86       & 36.54  \\
     120\uC Coroutines  & 106           & 107.04        & 1.61   \\
     121\uC Threads             & 525.5 & 533.04        & 11.14  \\
    122122\hline
    123123\end{tabular}

  • doc/proposals/concurrency/version

    ra2ea829 rb9d0fb6  
    1 0.11.19
     10.11.47
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