Hans mcmacker4

## atomics_for_humans.md

      
              1 file
            
          
              0 forks
            
          
                1 comment
              
            
              38 stars
            
          
                kprotty
                / atomics_for_humans.md
            
            
              Last active
              July 31, 2025 20:07
            
              
                Offering a simpler way to conceptualize https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/atomic/memory_order
              
          
Every atomic object has a timeline (TL) of writes:

A write is either a store or a read-modify-write (RMW): it read latest write & pushed new one.
A write is either tagged Relaxed, Release, or SeqCst.
A read observes some write on the timeline:

On the same thread, future reads can't go backwards on the timeline.
A read is either tagged Relaxed, Acquire, or SeqCst.
RMWs can also be tagged Acquire (or AcqRel). If so, the Acquire refers to the "read" portion of "RMW".


Each thread has its own view of the world:


Shared write timelines but each thread could be reading at different points.