What is Spinning

In a multicore environment, a major focus is represented by the synchronization among threads and processes. Since synchronization mechanisms strongly affect the performance of multithread algorithms, the selection of an effective synchronization approach is critical for multicore environments. In this chapter, the cost of the main existing synchronization techniques is estimated. The current investigation covers both hardware and software solutions. A comparative analysis highlights benefits and drawbacks of the considered approaches. The results are intended to represent a useful aid for researchers and practitioners interested in optimization of parallel algorithms.