Our book Professional Multicore Programming: Design and Implementation for C++ Developers presents the ABCs of multicore programming in terms the average working software developer can understand. We introduce the reader to the everyday fundamentals of programming for multiprocessor and multithreaded architectures. We provide a practical yet gentle introduction to the notions of parallel processing and software concurrency. This book takes complicated, almost unapproachable, parallel programming techniques and presents them in a simple, understandable manner. We address the pitfalls and traps of concurrency programming and synchronization. We provide a no-nonsense discussion of multiprocessing and multithreading models. This book provides numerous programming examples that demonstrate how successful multicore programming is done. We also include methods and techniques for debugging and testing multicore programming. Finally, we demonstrate how to take advantage of processor specific features using cross-platform techniques.

The material in this book is designed to serve a wide audience with different entry points into multicore programming and application development. The audience for this book includes but is not limited to:

Each group sees the multicore computer from a somewhat different perspective. Some are concerned with bottom-up methods and need to develop software that takes advantage of hardware-specific and vendor-specific features. For these groups, the more detailed the information about the nooks and crannies of multithreaded processing the better. Other groups are interested in top-down methods. This group does not want to be bothered with the details of concurrent task synchronization or thread safety. This group prefers to use high-level libraries and tools to get the job done. Still other groups need a mix of bottom-up and top-down approaches. This book provides an introduction to the many points of view of multicore programming, covering both bottom-up and top-down approaches.

First, we recognize that not every software solution requires multiprocessing or multithreading. Some software solutions are better implemented using sequential programming techniques (even if the target platform is multicore). Our approach is solution and model driven. First, develop the model or solution for the problem. If the solution requires that some instructions, procedures, or tasks need to execute concurrently then determine which the best set of techniques to use are. This approach is in contrast to forcing the solution or model to fit some preselected library or development tool. The technique should follow the solution. Although this book discusses libraries and development tools, it does not advocate any specific vendor library or tool set. Although we include examples that take advantage of particular hardware platforms, we rely on cross-platform approaches. POSIX standard operating system calls and libraries are used. Only features of C++ that are supported by the International C++ standard are used.

We advocate a component approach to the challenges and obstacles found in multiprocessing and multithreading. Our primary objective is to take advantage of framework classes as building blocks for concurrency. The framework classes are supported by object-oriented mutexes, semaphores, pipes, queues, and sockets. The complexity of task synchronization and communication is significantly reduced through the use of interface classes. The control mechanism in our multithreaded and multiprocessing applications is primarily agent driven. This means that the application architectures that you will see in this book support the multiple-paradigm approach to software development.

We use object-oriented programming techniques for component implementation and primarily agent-oriented programming techniques for the control mechanism. The agent-oriented programming ideas are sometimes supported by logic programming techniques. As the number of available cores on the processor increase, software development models will need to rely more on agent-oriented and logic programming. This book includes an introduction to this multiparadigm approach for software development.

There are C++ compilers available for virtually every platform and operating environment. The ANSI American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) have defined standards for the C++ language and its library. There are robust open-source implementations as well as commercial implementations of the language. The language has to be widely adopted by researchers, designers, and professional developers around the world. The C++ language has been used to solve problems of all sizes and shapes from device drivers to large-scale industrial applications. The language supports a multiparadigm approach to software development. We can implement Object-Oriented designs, logic programming designs, and agent-oriented designs seamlessly in C++. We can also use structured programming techniques or low-level programming techniques where necessary. This flexibility is exactly what's needed to take advantage of the new multicore world. Further, C++ compilers provide the software developer with a direct interface to the new features of the multicore processors.

Many of the diagrams in this book use the Unified Modeling Language (UML) standard. In particular, activity diagrams, deployment diagrams, class diagrams and state diagrams are used to describe important concurrency architectures and class relationships. Although a knowledge of the UML is not necessary, familiarity is helpful.

The examples in this book were all developed using ISO standard C/C++. This means the examples and programs can be compiled in all the major environments. Only POSIX-compliant operating system calls or libraries are used in the complete programs. Therefore, these programs will be portable to all operating system environments that are POSIX compliant. The examples and programs in this book were tested on the SunFire 2000 with UltraSparc T1 multiprocessor, the Intel Core 2 Duo, the IBM Cell Broadband Engine, and the AMD Dual Core Opteron.

Most complete programs in the book are accompanied by a program profile. The profile will contain implementation specifics such as headers required, libraries required, compile instructions, and link instructions. The profile also includes a notes section that will contain any special considerations that need to be taken when executing the program. All code is meant for exposition purposes only.

Although all examples and applications in this book were tested to ensure correctness, we make no warranties that the programs contained in this book are free of defects or error or are consistent with any particular standard or mechantability, or will meet your requirement for any particular application. They should not be relied upon for solving problems whose incorrect solution could result in injury to person or loss of property. The authors and publishers disclaim all liability for direct or consequential damages resulting from your use of the examples, programs, or applications present in this book.

To help you get the most from the text and keep track of what's happening, we've used a number of conventions throughout the book.

As for styles in the text:

We use a monofont type with no highlighting for most code examples.

We use gray highlighting to emphasize code that's particularly important in the
present context.

This book contains both code listings and code examples.

As you work through the examples in this book, you may choose either to type in all the code manually or to use the source code files that accompany the book. All of the source code used in this book is available for download at www.wrox.com. Once at the site, simply locate the book's title (either by using the Search box or by using one of the title lists) and click the Download Code link on the book's detail page to obtain all the source code for the book.

Once you download the code, just decompress it with your favorite decompression tool. Alternately, you can go to the main Wrox code download page at www.wrox.com/dynamic/books/download.aspx to see the code available for this book and all other Wrox books.

We make every effort to ensure that there are no errors in the text or in the code. However, no one is perfect, and mistakes do occur. If you find an error in one of our books, such as a spelling mistake or faulty piece of code, we would be very grateful for your feedback. By sending in errata, you may save another reader hours of frustration, and at the same time you will be helping us provide even higher-quality information.

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