Techniques for Constructing Efficient Lock-free Data Structures

TL;DR

This paper introduces tools to aid in developing efficient lock-free data structures, particularly trees, which are crucial for simplifying concurrent software development and ensuring progress guarantees.

Contribution

It provides new tools and methods to support the construction of efficient lock-free data structures, addressing implementation challenges.

Findings

Tools facilitate lock-free data structure development

Enhanced efficiency in lock-free trees

Improved progress guarantees in concurrent operations

Abstract

Building a library of concurrent data structures is an essential way to simplify the difficult task of developing concurrent software. Lock-free data structures, in which processes can help one another to complete operations, offer the following progress guarantee: If processes take infinitely many steps, then infinitely many operations are performed. Handcrafted lock-free data structures can be very efficient, but are notoriously difficult to implement. We introduce numerous tools that support the development of efficient lock-free data structures, and especially trees.