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Summary: Using Local-Spin k-Exclusion Algorithms to Improve
Wait-Free Object Implementations
James H. Anderson
Department of Computer Science
The University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
Mark Moir
Department of Computer Science
The University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
November 1995
Revised November 1996, February 1997
Abstract
We present the rst shared-memory algorithms for k-exclusion in which all process blocking is achieved
through the use of \local-spin" busy waiting. Such algorithms are designed to reduce interconnect
tra c, which is important for good performance. Our k-exclusion algorithms are starvation-free, and
are designed to be fast in the absence of contention, and to exhibit scalable performance as contention
rises. In contrast, all previous starvation-free k-exclusion algorithms require unrealistic operations or
generate excessive interconnect tra c under contention. We also show that e cient, starvation-free
k-exclusion algorithms can be used to reduce the time and space overhead associated with existing
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