Date and time: 11.30am-12.30pm, Friday 28th April, 2006
Venue: 10.08.04
Chair: Xiaodong Li
Abstract:
To exploit the full potential of single user systems with symmetrical multiprocessors
or hyper-threading/multi-core technology, applications need to be split into
multiple threads of control. This also supports the independent or exploratory
development of distinct software components which can then be reused via
inter-process communication (IPC).
Lock-free algorithms, which do not require mutually exclusive access to shared
data, can avoid problems such as deadlock or priority
inversion and more easily cope with process failure. However, this all comes at
a cost of the complexity. This seminar
will present the memory consistency problems faced and proof strategies used in
the design of a lock-free IPC for computer music.
The shared memory model proposed complements existing message passing interfaces such as the Musical Instrument Digital Interface, Open Sound Control or Jack Audio Connection Kit. While these protocols align well with the data-flow aspects of computer music, they can become troublesome when trying to represent more structured content. The lock-free IPC proposed provides an accessible transport for structured text such as programming languages or the Extensible Mark-up Language (XML).
About the speaker:
Robert Shelton is postgraduate student with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The University of Melbourne.
Seminar Organisation
Seminars are free and open to the general public. No booking is necessary. If you are interested in giving a presentation in this seminar series, or to make suggestions for speakers, please contact Xiaodong Li, the seminar co-ordinator.