Shared-Memory Synchronization

Michael L. Scott is a Professor and past Chair of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Rochester. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985. His research interests span operating systems, languages, architecture, and tools, with a particular emphasis on parallel and distributed systems. He is best known for work in synchronization algorithms and concurrent data structures, in recognition of which he shared the 2006 SIGACT/SIGOPS Edsger W. Dijkstra Prize. Other widely cited work has addressed parallel operating systems and file systems, software distributed shared memory, and energy-conscious operating systems and microarchitecture. His textbook on programming language design and implementation Programming Language Pragmatics, third edition, Morgan Kaufmann, Feb. 2009) is a standard in the field. In 2003 he served as General Chair for SOSP; more recently he has been Program Chair for TRANSACT07, PPoPP08, and ASPLOS12. He was named a Fellow of the ACM in 2006 and of the IEEE in 2010. In 2001 he received the University of Rochesters Robert and Pamela Goergen Award for Distinguished Achievement and Artistry in Undergraduate Teaching.

Introduction.- Architectural Background.- Essential Theory.- Practical Spin Locks.- Busy-wait Synchronization with Conditions.- Read-mostly Atomicity.- Synchronization and Scheduling.- Nonblocking Algorithms.- Transactional Memory.- Author's Biography.