Thread Coordination

Abstract

In a computer, just like the rest of the world, more work can get done if there are more workers working at the same time. In a computer, these workers take the form of multiple concurrently executing processes and, inside of a single process, multiple concurrent threads of execution. In the real world, if more than one worker is working on the same thing or if workers need to perform their work in a certain order relative to each other, they must have some form of communication and coordination between them. Just as in the physical world, if more than one thread is working on the same object or if those threads need to mutate objects in a certain order relative to each other, they must have some way to coordinate with each other.