[MUD-Dev] Atomic functions

Ben bjchambers at phoenixdsl.com
Wed Nov 15 17:15:50 CET 2000


Christopher Allen wrote:
> Ben wrote:
> > Would it not be easier to check for the requirements first?
> ...(examples deleted)
> > in this way, you save coding time, and also make it more
> > efficient, no more
> > extra threads, or extra functions, just call the destination with the
> > object, instead of the object with the destination.
>
> For a relatively simple piece of code it is true that checking
requirements
> first is faster. Using atomic functions for many functions will definitely
> slow things down.
>
> However, with more complex routines, with many levels of nesting, the
> requirements check might be valid when checked, but by the time the
routine
> got to the values themselves, are not valid anymore.
>
> Even this could be caught by good coding, however, the real value of
atomic
> functions is not in a single-processor environment. The work that Felix
has
> been doing in DGD is leading toward being able to code as if you were in a
> single threaded environment, however, if some other processor pulls the
rug
> out from underneath your code, it will just rewind and start over. Thus
the
> true value of atomic functions is that they enable multiprocessing.

Okay, I am beginning to see where they are useful. But do they have an
overhead to run that would
cause it to be more desireable to use them.  Basically I am beginning to
plan out a new server, completely
skill based and levelless and all that fun stuff, so I figure that if I plan
on doing it, may as well implement it now...





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