Question

This is an interview question. How do you implement a read/write mutex? There will be multiple threads reading and writing to a resource. I’m not sure how to go about it. If there’s any information needed, please let me know.

Update: I’m not sure if my statement above is valid/understandable. But what I really want to know is how do you implement multiple read and multiple writes on a single object in terms of mutex and other synchronization objects needed?

Answer 1

Check out Dekker’s algorithm.

Dekker’s algorithm is the first known
correct solution to the mutual
exclusion problem in concurrent
programming. The solution is
attributed to Dutch mathematician Th.
J. Dekker by Edsger W. Dijkstra in his
manuscript on cooperating sequential
processes. It allows two threads to
share a single-use resource without
conflict, using only shared memory for
communication.

Note that Dekker’s algorithm uses a spinlock (not a busy waiting) technique.
(Th. J. Dekker’s solution, mentioned by E. W. Dijkstra in his EWD1303 paper)