Paul Rubin <http://phr...@nospam.invalid> wrote: >Those links describe using the LOCK prefix, which as the name implies, >asserts a lock, so it is no longer "lockless reference counting".
No, it doesn't assert a lock in the sense used in this thread. On modern Intel systems it's normally handled completely within the cache. >The LOCK prefix adds about 100 cycles to the instruction. That's unavoidable. It's still faster than spin lock, which would also have to use syncronizing instructions. Ross Ridge -- l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU [oo][oo] rri...@csclub.uwaterloo.ca -()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~rridge/ db // -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list