Multiprocessors should support simple memory consistency models
Hill, M.D.
Computer
Volume 31, Issue 8, Aug 1998 Page(s):28 - 34
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/2.707614
Summary:In the future, many computers will contain multiple processors, in
part because the marginal cost of adding a few additional processors is
so low that only minimal performance gain is needed to make the
additional processors cost effective. Intel, for example, now makes
cards containing four Pentium Pro processors that can easily be
incorporated into a system. Multiple processor cards like Intel's will
help multiprocessing spread from servers to the desktop. But how will
these multiprocessors be programmed? The evolution of the programming
model is already under way. One important function of the programming
model is to describe how memory operates. For a multiprocessor, a
reasonable model is sequential consistency (SC), which makes a
multiprocessor behave like a multitasking uniprocessor. Nevertheless,
many commercial multiprocessors support more relaxed memory models. The
author argues that multiprocessors should support SC because-with
speculative execution, relaxed models do not provide sufficient
additional performance to justify exposing their complexity to the
authors of low level software
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