Registers

TL;DR

This paper discusses the concept of wait-free registers in asynchronous systems where processes communicate solely through read and write operations without global synchronization.

Contribution

It provides a formal problem definition and explores the properties of wait-free shared variables in asynchronous communication hardware.

Findings

Defines the problem of wait-free register implementation.

Analyzes the constraints of asynchronous communication without synchronization.

Highlights the importance of wait-free algorithms for reliable shared memory access.

Abstract

Entry in: Encyclopedia of Algorithms, Ming-Yang Kao, Ed., Springer, To appear. Synonyms: Wait-free registers, wait-free shared variables, asynchronous communication hardware. Problem Definition: Consider a system of asynchronous processes that communicate among themselves by only executing read and write operations on a set of shared variables (also known as shared registers). The system has no global clock or other synchronization primitives.