The Little Book of Semaphores, Second Edition

Author : Allen B. Downey, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Publication Date : 2005
Free License : GNU Free Documentation License

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Book Summary:

The Little Book of Semaphores is a free (in both senses of the word) textbook that introduces the principles of synchronization for concurrent programming.

In most computer science curricula, synchronization is a module in an Operating Systems class. OS textbooks present a standard set of problems with a standard set of solutions, but most students don't get a good understanding of the material or the ability to solve similar problems.

The approach of this book is to identify patterns that are useful for a variety of synchronization problems and then show how they can be assembled into solutions. After each problem, the book offers a hint before showing a solution, giving students a better chance of discovering solutions on their own.

The book covers the classical problems, including Readers-writers, Producer-consumer, and Dining Philosophers. In addition, it collects a number of not-so-classical problems, some written by the author and some by other teachers and textbook writers. Readers are invited to create and submit new problems.

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