[M3devel] condition variables/win32

[Olaf Wagner]

Quoting Randy Coleburn <rcoleburn at scires.com>:

> I do make use of the alert mechanism and condition variables in my code.
>
> My concern is that if Juno is the only place where we have observed   
> a problem, maybe the problem is with the Juno code and not with the   
> threads implementation.  That is why I was wondering if we had a   
> non-Juno example that exhibits a problem.  Having more than one   
> exemplar may also help track down the problem.
>
> The modules I referenced in my prior message create higher-level   
> abstractions.  They are implemented using the primitives available   
> in the language proper, no UNSAFE stuff.  Of course, any efficiency   
> improvement in the lower levels would be a benefit, and yes it is   
> probable that recoding my abstractions at a lower level or making   
> them features at a lower level would be more efficient.
>
> Note that I'm not suggesting that any of these abstractions be made   
> features of the language or pushed down to the lower levels.  I was   
> just pointing out that I've got a lot of stuff that uses threading   
> on Windows and I haven't observed that the threading implementation   
> is broken.  Perhaps I am not exercising it the same way as Juno, or   
> perhaps Juno is doing something wrong.

I would second Randy's concern insofar as we should be able to add
a test that exhibits the failure and then test any new implementation
against it. At least that would be the proper way to do it.

If you have a theory what breaks or where a race may be hidden, it
should be possible to write a simple test, or isn't it?

This again is just me with my release engineer's hat on :-)

Also, if you have any tests that can be added to m3tests, please do!

Olaf
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