Summary

Summary Synchronization can impact program performance on both single-processor and SMP systems; in some cases, the impact can be severe. Careful program design and selection of the appropriate synchronization objects can help assure good performance. This chapter has discussed a number of useful techniques and guidelines and has illustrated performance issues with a simple test program that captures the essential characteristics of many real programming situations. Looking Ahead Chapter 10 shows how to use Windows synchronization in more general ways, and it discusses several programming models that help ensure correctness and maintainability, as well as good performance. Chapter 10 also creates several compound synchronization objects that are useful for solving a number of important problems. Subsequent chapters use threads and synchronization as required for applications, such as servers. There are also a few more basic threading topics; for example, Chapter 12 illustrates and discusses thread safety and reentrancy in DLLs. Additional Reading Chapter 10 provides information sources that apply to this chapter as well.