Exclusion for composite objects

Abstract

Designing concurrent object-oriented programs is hard. Correct programs must coordinate multiple threads accessing composite objects, using low-level mechanisms such as locks and read-write sets. Efficient programs must balance the complexity and overhead of the coordination mechanisms against the increased performance possible through concurrency. A method-level algebra of exclusion provides a succinct description of the conditions under which a thread must be excluded from a component of a composite object. Using the algebra, programmers can check whether their programs meet their exclusion requirements, can eliminate redundant exclusion controls, and can remove synchronisation overhead by reducing concurrency.