Considerations for Using Locks

You can implement various synchronization mechanisms in the hardware or operating system.

Cilk recognizes the locking mechanisms listed here.

The following lock terms and facts are useful:

Lock contention can create performance problems in parallel programs. Furthermore, while locks can resolve data races, programs using locks are often non-deterministic. Avoiding locks whenever possible is recommended

These problems (and others) are described in detail in the following sections.


Submit feedback on this help topic

Copyright © 1996-2010, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.