1996/01/01 by Sarita V. Adve, Kourosh Gharachorloo · 1 voice · 6 citations
Computer Science · #Parallel Computing and Optimization Techniques #Distributed systems and fault tolerance #Advanced Data Storage Technologies
paper · doi:10.1109/2.546611
openalex publication_date 1996/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
The memory consistency model of a system affects performance, programmability, and portability. We aim to describe memory consistency models in a way that most computer professionals would understand. This is important if the performance-enhancing features being incorporated by system designers are to be correctly and widely used by programmers. Our focus is consistency models proposed for hardware-based shared memory systems. Most of these models emphasize the system optimizations they support, and we retain this system-centric emphasis. We also describe an alternative, programmer-centric view of relaxed consistency models that describes them in terms of program behavior, not system optimizations.