An alternative to event queues for synchronization in monitors

Abstract

In the monitor concept, as proposed by Brinch Hansen and Hoare, event queues are used for synchronization. This paper describes another synchronizing primitive which is nearly as expressive as the conditional wait, but can be implemented more efficiently. An implementation of this primitive in terms of P and V operations is given together with a correctness proof. Two examples are presented: the readers and writers problem and the problem of information streams sharing a finite buffer pool.