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Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually

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Am 08.07.2012 01:19, schrieb Joshua Maurice:
> On Jul 7, 6:47 am, Jens Gustedt <jens.gust...@loria.fr> wrote:
>> Am 07.07.2012 01:58, schrieb Joshua Maurice:
>>
>>> To be topical, here's the answer for C11: volatile is useless as a
>>> portable threading construct. Do not use it. It's (maybe) useful in a
>>> portable way only for 3 obscure situations: MMIO, setjmp and longjmp
>>> stuff, and signal handling.
>>
>> No, this is misleading. volatile alone is not sufficient to warrant data
>> consistency between threads, but is necessary. volatile and _Atomic are
>> complementary specifications that *both* are needed if you want to make
>> sure that a thread always uses the latest stored value of a variable. If
>> you have
>>
>> static int _Atomic a = ATOMIC_VAR_INIT(23);
>> if (tester)
>>   for (;;) printf("current value is %d\n", a);
>>
>> The compiler is allowed to change the loop into something equivalent to
>>
>>  {
>>   int tmp = a; // do an atomic_load operation here
>>   for (;;) printf("current value is %d\n", tmp);
>>  }
>>
>> and thus always print the same value.
>>
>> static int _Atomic volatile a = ATOMIC_VAR_INIT(23);
>>
>> would assure that each execution of printf would see an updated value.
> 
> (Let's assume you were talking about C11.)

Sure I was, _Atomic only comes with C11

> You are simply wrong. That
> is not what the standard says. This is not what people on the
> standards committee are saying. That is not what compile writers are
> implementing. This is not what the experts are saying. volatile is
> useless for threading code by the C11 standard. Entirely useless for
> inter-thread communication.

Then read the example I gave again :)

> However, having said that, your example is an interesting one. The
> specific rule which disallows the above compiler transformation is an
> obscure one, and not one of my favorites. I've tried to discuss this
> very issue on comp.std.c++, with no replies IIRC. C11 threading, being
> largely just a copy of C++11 threading, has the rule in question. In
> the draft I have lying around of C11, n1570, the rule is:
> 
> n1570: 7.17.3 Order and consistency / 16
> [quote]
> Implementations should make atomic stores visible to atomic loads
> within a reasonable amount of time.
> [/quote]

The "should" makes it clearly a non-normative part of the standard and
leaves it to the appreciation of the compiler implementor what
"reasonable amount of time" is.

If the implementor decides that "reasonable amount of time" is 1
milli-second, the loop could be implemented to only do an update each
milli-second.

Said otherwise, there can be no guarantee that for the non-volatile
case an implementation decides to skip a load operation somewhere that
would bring a fresh value into some other thread.

> That rule disallows the above transformation.

no, I just suggest that a compiler shouldn't do it.

> The only reasonable
> reading of that rule is to prevent compiler transformations like the
> one above.

to discourage, not to prevent

Jens

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Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Myth__Buster <raghavanil4m@gmail.com> - 2012-07-05 10:44 -0700
  Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a  struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile  and non-volatile individually pete <pfiland@mindspring.com> - 2012-07-05 14:59 -0400
    Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Myth__Buster <raghavanil4m@gmail.com> - 2012-07-07 12:53 -0700
  Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-07-05 23:22 +0100
    Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 13:08 -0400
      Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-07-07 09:20 +1200
        Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 14:01 -0400
          Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-07-06 18:11 -0400
            Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 14:33 -0400
              Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-07-07 11:29 +1200
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 16:27 -0400
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-07-07 12:37 +1200
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 17:29 -0400
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-07-07 15:50 +1200
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 19:55 -0400
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-07-07 17:04 +0300
              Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-07 00:10 -0700
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Gareth Owen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-07-07 10:00 +0100
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-07 10:55 -0700
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Joshua Maurice <joshuamaurice@gmail.com> - 2012-07-07 15:13 -0700
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-07 04:40 -0400
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-07-07 17:20 +0300
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-07 10:33 -0700
              Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-07-07 08:16 -0400
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-07 05:12 -0400
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-07-07 09:24 -0400
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-07 06:07 -0400
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-07-07 13:26 -0700
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-07 16:04 -0400
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-07-09 11:14 -0400
          Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Joshua Maurice <joshuamaurice@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 16:58 -0700
            Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimizationo to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 17:20 -0400
              Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimizationo to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Joshua Maurice <joshuamaurice@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 19:39 -0700
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimizationo to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 18:54 -0400
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimizationo to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Joshua Maurice <joshuamaurice@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 20:12 -0700
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimizationo to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 19:25 -0400
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimizationo to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Joshua Maurice <joshuamaurice@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 20:33 -0700
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimizationo to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 19:47 -0400
            Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Jens Gustedt <jens.gustedt@loria.fr> - 2012-07-07 15:47 +0200
              Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Uncle Steve <stevet810@gmail.com> - 2012-07-07 06:58 -0400
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Philip Lantz <prl@canterey.us> - 2012-07-14 21:46 -0700
              Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Joshua Maurice <joshuamaurice@gmail.com> - 2012-07-07 16:19 -0700
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Jens Gustedt <jens.gustedt@loria.fr> - 2012-07-08 09:40 +0200
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-07-08 10:51 -0400
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Philip Lantz <prl@canterey.us> - 2012-07-13 23:25 -0700
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Joshua Maurice <joshuamaurice@gmail.com> - 2012-07-14 14:37 -0700
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Joshua Maurice <joshuamaurice@gmail.com> - 2012-07-14 14:46 -0700
                Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Philip Lantz <prl@canterey.us> - 2012-07-14 21:39 -0700
    Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-06 17:24 -0700
      Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-07-07 02:33 +0100
    Re: Clarification on the applicability of compile-time optimization to a struct variable which encompasses a mixture of fields declared as volatile and non-volatile individually Myth__Buster <raghavanil4m@gmail.com> - 2012-07-07 12:53 -0700

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