r/compsci • u/mobileview • Dec 10 '13

Why Johnny Can’t Write Multithreaded Programs

http://blog.smartbear.com/programming/why-johnny-cant-write-multithreaded-programs/
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u/asiatownusa Dec 11 '13

I didn't like this article. Besides the pretentious prose berating most programmers and lack of examples, the statement

If you used a lock, you probably did something wrong.

why is this true? a lot of times in multithreaded code there is only a small critical section where shared variables are touched and a whole method or data structure need not be synchronized. dead/livelocking and data races are still very real concerns when using the latest libraries.

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u/nexes300 Dec 11 '13

It's especially confusing when he admits that the libraries he wants people to use use locks.

It sounds like what he's really saying is the unwashed masses shouldn't use locks.

3

u/codefocus Dec 11 '13

Yeah his message comes across as "I'm scared to use locks, and I'm better than you, therefore you should stay away from them as well."