WEAK MEMORY CONSISTENCY MODELS PART ONE: DEFINITIONS AND COMPARISONS
Date
1998-01-01
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Abstract
Modern multiprocessors incorporate sophisticated memory structures
in order to enhance performance. These structures allow processes to
have inconsistent views of memory, which can, in turn, result in unexpected
program outcomes. A memory consistency model is a set of guarantees that
imposes constraints on the possible outcomes of sequences of interleaved
and simultaneous operations in a multiprocessor. This paper presents a
unifying framework to describe, compare and reason about memory consistency
models. The framework is then used to give rigorous definitions of several
widely used consistency models. These definitions are also shown to
correspond to simple machine architectures. For each pair of models
discussed, it is determined whether one is strictly stronger than the other
or whether the two are incomparable.
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Computer Science