.TH "Atomic" 3 2024-02-29 OCamldoc "OCaml library"
.SH NAME
Atomic \- Atomic references.
.SH Module
Module   Atomic
.SH Documentation
.sp
Module
.BI "Atomic"
 : 
.B sig end

.sp
Atomic references\&.
.sp
See 
.ft B
Atomic\&.examples
.ft R
below\&.
See \&'Memory model: The hard bits\&' chapter in the manual\&.

.sp
.B "Since"
4.12

.sp

.sp
.sp
.I type 
.B !'a
.I t 

.sp
An atomic (mutable) reference to a value of type 
.ft B
\&'a
.ft R
\&.

.sp

.I val make 
: 
.B 'a -> 'a t
.sp
Create an atomic reference\&.

.sp

.I val get 
: 
.B 'a t -> 'a
.sp
Get the current value of the atomic reference\&.

.sp

.I val set 
: 
.B 'a t -> 'a -> unit
.sp
Set a new value for the atomic reference\&.

.sp

.I val exchange 
: 
.B 'a t -> 'a -> 'a
.sp
Set a new value for the atomic reference, and return the current value\&.

.sp

.I val compare_and_set 
: 
.B 'a t -> 'a -> 'a -> bool
.sp

.ft B
compare_and_set r seen v
.ft R
sets the new value of 
.ft B
r
.ft R
to 
.ft B
v
.ft R
only
if its current value is physically equal to 
.ft B
seen
.ft R
\-\- the
comparison and the set occur atomically\&. Returns 
.ft B
true
.ft R
if the
comparison succeeded (so the set happened) and 
.ft B
false
.ft R
otherwise\&.

.sp

.I val fetch_and_add 
: 
.B int t -> int -> int
.sp

.ft B
fetch_and_add r n
.ft R
atomically increments the value of 
.ft B
r
.ft R
by 
.ft B
n
.ft R
,
and returns the current value (before the increment)\&.

.sp

.I val incr 
: 
.B int t -> unit
.sp

.ft B
incr r
.ft R
atomically increments the value of 
.ft B
r
.ft R
by 
.ft B
1
.ft R
\&.

.sp

.I val decr 
: 
.B int t -> unit
.sp

.ft B
decr r
.ft R
atomically decrements the value of 
.ft B
r
.ft R
by 
.ft B
1
.ft R
\&.

.sp

.PP
.SS Examples
.sp
.SS Basic Thread Coordination
.sp
A basic use case is to have global counters that are updated in a
thread\-safe way, for example to keep some sorts of metrics
over IOs performed by the program\&. Another basic use case is to coordinate
the termination of threads in a given program, for example when one thread
finds an answer, or when the program is shut down by the user\&.
.sp
Here, for example, we\&'re going to try to find a number whose hash
satisfies a basic property\&. To do that, we\&'ll run multiple threads which
will try random numbers until they find one that works\&.
.sp
Of course the output below is a sample run and will change every time
the program is run\&.
.sp

.EX
.ft B
.br
\&    (* use for termination *)
.br
\&    let stop_all_threads = Atomic\&.make false
.br
\&
.br
\&    (* total number of individual attempts to find a number *)
.br
\&    let num_attempts = Atomic\&.make 0
.br
\&
.br
\&    (* find a number that satisfies [p], by\&.\&.\&. trying random numbers
.br
\&       until one fits\&. *)
.br
\&    let find_number_where (p:int \-> bool) =
.br
\&      let rand = Random\&.State\&.make_self_init() in
.br
\&      while not (Atomic\&.get stop_all_threads) do
.br
\&
.br
\&        let n = Random\&.State\&.full_int rand max_int in
.br
\&        ignore (Atomic\&.fetch_and_add num_attempts 1 : int);
.br
\&
.br
\&        if p (Hashtbl\&.hash n) then (
.br
\&          Printf\&.printf "found %d (hash=%d)\(rsn%!" n (Hashtbl\&.hash n);
.br
\&          Atomic\&.set stop_all_threads true; (* signal all threads to stop *)
.br
\&        )
.br
\&      done;;
.br
\&
.br
\&
.br
\&    (* run multiple domains to search for a [n] where [hash n <= 100] *)
.br
\&    let () =
.br
\&      let criterion n = n <= 100 in
.br
\&      let threads =
.br
\&        Array\&.init 8
.br
\&          (fun _ \-> Domain\&.spawn (fun () \-> find_number_where criterion))
.br
\&      in
.br
\&      Array\&.iter Domain\&.join threads;
.br
\&      Printf\&.printf "total number of attempts: %d\(rsn%!"
.br
\&        (Atomic\&.get num_attempts) ;;
.br
\&
.br
\&    \- : unit = ()
.br
\&    found 1651745641680046833 (hash=33)
.br
\&    total number of attempts: 30230350
.br
\&    
.ft R
.EE
.sp
.SS Treiber Stack
.sp
Another example is a basic
Treiber stack
(a thread\-safe stack) that can be safely shared between threads\&.
.sp
Note how both 
.ft B
push
.ft R
and 
.ft B
pop
.ft R
are recursive, because they attempt to
swap the new stack (with one more, or one fewer, element) with the old
stack\&.
This is optimistic concurrency: each iteration of, say, 
.ft B
push stack x
.ft R
gets the old stack 
.ft B
l
.ft R
, and hopes that by the time it tries to replace
.ft B
l
.ft R
with 
.ft B
x::l
.ft R
, nobody else has had time to modify the list\&. If the
.ft B
compare_and_set
.ft R
fails it means we were too optimistic, and must try
again\&.
.sp

.EX
.ft B
.br
\&    type \&'a stack = \&'a list Atomic\&.t
.br
\&
.br
\&    let rec push (stack: _ stack) elt : unit =
.br
\&      let cur = Atomic\&.get stack in
.br
\&      let success = Atomic\&.compare_and_set stack cur (elt :: cur) in
.br
\&      if not success then
.br
\&        push stack elt
.br
\&
.br
\&    let rec pop (stack: _ stack) : _ option =
.br
\&      let cur = Atomic\&.get stack in
.br
\&      match cur with
.br
\&      | [] \-> None
.br
\&      | x :: tail \->
.br
\&        let success = Atomic\&.compare_and_set stack cur tail in
.br
\&        if success then Some x
.br
\&        else pop stack
.br
\&
.br
\&    # let st = Atomic\&.make []
.br
\&    # push st 1
.br
\&    \- : unit = ()
.br
\&    # push st 2
.br
\&    \- : unit = ()
.br
\&    # pop st
.br
\&    \- : int option = Some 2
.br
\&    # pop st
.br
\&    \- : int option = Some 1
.br
\&    # pop st
.br
\&    \- : int option = None
.br
\&    
.ft R
.EE
.PP