← OS & ArchitectureOS & ARCHITECTURE 3.4

Synchronization Theory

Not started yet — race conditions, mutexes, semaphores, spinlocks, deadlock, and producer-consumer. Mutex-vs-semaphore-vs-spinlock is the single most repeated question in this space, so this topic earns its 11 bytes across 2 chapters.

Planned chapters

  • A — The Problem & Basic Tools. Race-condition anatomy, critical sections, why x++ isn't atomic, mutexes, semaphores, and mutex vs. semaphore head to head.
  • B — Spinning & Hazards. Spinlocks and when spinning beats sleeping, deadlock and the four Coffman conditions, deadlock prevention, priority inversion, and writing producer-consumer with mutex + counting semaphores.

Not yet catalogued — check back once this topic is underway.

Notes from readers

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