Without the Futex, It’s Futile
Phil Eaton’s book club is starting The Art of Multiprocessor Programming, 2nd Edition , which is a very well regarded textbook, and pretty recently updated (2021). I’ve even heard of a couple of authors.I’ve done a lot of concurrent programming, and have always felt like I’ve still got plenty to learn, so I was excited for the topic. So far, what I’ve learned is that I would never recommend this book, despite any merits.Academia certainly struggles to find the right balance between teaching foundational principles and practical information. Being this book is explicitly targeting fourth-year undergraduates and grad students, it should definitely cover the fundamentals, right?So how the heck could it not cover the futex??Isn’t that just a type of mutex? Surely the futex can’t…
