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Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling from a critical section?

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On 8/8/2012 9:55 PM, celephicus@gmail.com wrote:
> Good programmers know about critical sections, which protect shared resources. Good programmers use descriptive names. I just spent a day tracking down a real-time bug due to me calling a function outside a critical section.
>
> How would you name a function to indicate that it should only be called from within a critical section? Something like doStuff_critical() with the "_critical" telling you the requirement for a critical section. But of course less ugly.
>
> Any ideas?

     Idea: Pthreads uses names like fputc_unlocked() for a similar
purpose, and you might imitate that.  I don't think the ugliness
of such names should be much of a barrier; you *want* them to jump
out and be difficult to overlook -- even difficult to type, if the
functions should only be called in unusual circumstances.

     But could you do better by reorganizing the program a bit?
By that I mean: In many cases, an "uncritical" piece of the program
calls a function that "goes critical" (acquires a lock, whatever),
does its job, restores normal mode, and returns to the caller, with
its work done and no longer "critical."  If the function's work is
complex enough to be broken down into sub-functions, consider making
those subordinate functions `static' so outsiders cannot call them
directly but can only get at them through the "safe" API.

-- 
Eric Sosman
esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid

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How to name a function to indicate that they require calling from a critical section? celephicus@gmail.com - 2012-08-08 18:55 -0700
  Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling from a critical section? Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-08-09 08:31 -0400
  Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling from a critical section? "China Blue [Tor], Meersburg" <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2012-08-09 12:24 -0700
    Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling from a critical section? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-08-09 13:59 -0700
  Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling from a critical section? Andrew Cooper <amc96@cam.ac.uk> - 2012-08-09 21:43 +0100
    Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling from a critical section? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-08-09 13:58 -0700
      Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling from a critical section? Andrew Cooper <amc96@cam.ac.uk> - 2012-08-09 23:11 +0100
        Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling from a critical section? Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-08-09 18:22 -0400
      Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling from a critical section? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-09-07 08:37 -0700
        Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling from a critical section? Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2012-09-07 16:01 -0500
          Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling from a critical section? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-09-07 18:37 -0700
            Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling from a critical section? Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2012-09-30 00:17 -0500
              Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling from a critical section? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-12-17 14:24 -0800
          Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling   from a critical section? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-09-08 13:56 +1200
            Re: How to name a function to indicate that they require calling   from a critical section? Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2012-09-30 13:45 -0500

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