June 25th, 2024

Atomic Operations Composition in Go

The article discusses atomic operations composition in Go, crucial for predictable results in concurrent programming without locks. Examples show both reliable and unpredictable outcomes, cautioning about atomics' limitations compared to mutexes.

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Atomic Operations Composition in Go

In the article, the concept of atomic operations composition in Go is explored. Atomic operations are crucial in concurrent programming as they ensure predictable results without the need for locks. The piece delves into scenarios where atomics are misused, leading to unpredictable outcomes in concurrent environments due to race conditions.

Three examples are provided to illustrate the use of atomic operations in Go. The first example showcases a sequence-independent operation that guarantees a final counter value of 200 in a concurrent setting. However, the second and third examples demonstrate sequence-dependent operations where the final counter value is not guaranteed due to varying operation orders.

The article emphasizes that while individual atomic operations may be atomic, their composition is not necessarily atomic. It advises caution when using atomics and suggests that mutexes can be more reliable in preventing concurrency-related errors. The importance of understanding the limitations of atomic operations and using them judiciously is highlighted throughout the discussion.

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Link Icon 3 comments
By @chen_dev - 4 months
> People sometimes think that the composition of atomics also magically becomes an atomic operation. But this is not the case.

> var counter atomic.Int32

> func increment() {

> if counter.Load()%2 == 0 {

> sleep(10)

> counter.Add(1)

> } else {

> sleep(10)

> counter.Add(2)

> }

> }

Is "atomic operations composition" a real term? Or it's something like "monolithic microservice"? What does that even mean?