Wait-Free Data Structures in the Asynchronous PRAM Model

A wad-free implementation of a data object in shared memory is one that guarantees that any process can complete any operation in a finite number of steps, regardless of the execution speeds of the other processes. Much of the literature on wait-free synchronization has focused on the construction of atomic registers, which are memory locations that can be read 01 written instantaneously by concurrent processes. This model, in which a set of asynchronous processes communicate through shared atomic registers, is sometimes known as asynchronous PRAM. It is known, however, that the asynchronous PRAM model is not sufficiently powerful to construct wait-free implementations of many simple data types such as lists, queues, stacks, test-and-set registers, and others. In this paper, we give an algebraic characterization of a large class of objects that do have wait-free implementations in asynchronous PRAM, as well as a general algorithm for implementing them.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1990
• Where: SPAA
• Authors: James Aspnes, Maurice Herlihy
• Keywords: Asynchronous Pram, Asynchronous Pram Model, Atomic Registers, Distributed And Parallel Computing, SPAA 1990