Summary: Non­Blocking Synchronization and Object­Oriented Operating System Design
C. Scott Ananian
Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139
cananian@csail.mit.edu
Abstract
Mutual exclusion is typically employed for multiprocess
synchronization. However, Massalin and Pu [MP91], and
Greenwald and Cheriton [GC96] have implemented com­
plete operating systems using non­blocking synchronization
instead of mutual exclusion. Although most operating sys­
tems are implemented using procedural languages, both of
these systems have significant object­oriented characteris­
tics. We show the interaction of non­blocking synchroniza­
tion and object­oriented language design for operating sys­
tems, and present a proposal for an implementation of the
Java programming language with non­blocking synchroniza­
tion based on functional arrays. We present an experimental
plan to run portions of a Java operating system under our

Source: Ananian, C. Scott - One Laptop Per Child

Collections: Computer Technologies and Information Sciences