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Read and Write Problem

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9 views

Read and Write Problem

Uploaded by

alazaraabate
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Classic problem of synchronization/ The readers-

writers problem/
A database is shared among several concurrent processes
The readers-writers problem relates to an object such as a file that is shared between
multiple processes. Some of these processes are readers i.e. they only want to read
the data from the object and some of the processes are writers i.e. they want to write
into the object.
The readers-writers problem is used to manage synchronization so that there are no
problems with the object data. For example - If two readers access the object at the
same time there is no problem. However if two writers or a reader and writer access the
object at the same time, there may be problems.

Case Process 1 Process 2 Allowed / Not


Allowed
Case 1 Writing Writing Not Allowed

Case 2 Reading Writing Not Allowed

Case 3 Writing Reading Not Allowed

Case 4 Reading Reading Allowed

To solve this situation, a writer should get exclusive access to an object i.e. when a
writer is accessing the object, no reader or writer may access it. However, multiple
readers can access the object at the same time.
Solution to The readers-writers problem
 Mutex=a semaphore (initialized to 1 ) which is used to ensure mutual exclusion
when readcount is updated i.e. when any reader enters or exit from the critical
section
 WRT, a semaphore (initialized to 1) common to both reader and writer
processes
 Readcount, an integer variable (initialized to 0) that keeps track of how many
processes are currently reading the object.
This can be implemented using semaphores. The codes for the reader and writer
process in the reader-writer problem are given as follows −

Reader Process
The code that defines the reader process is given below −
wait (mutex);
rc ++;
if (rc == 1)
wait (wrt);
signal(mutex);
.
. READ THE OBJECT
.
wait(mutex);
rc --;
if (rc == 0)
signal (wrt);
signal(mutex);
In the above code, mutex and wrt are semaphores that are initialized to 1. Also, rc is a
variable that is initialized to 0. The mutex semaphore ensures mutual exclusion and wrt
handles the writing mechanism and is common to the reader and writer process code.
The variable rc denotes the number of readers accessing the object. As soon as rc
becomes 1, wait operation is used on wrt. This means that a writer cannot access the
object anymore. After the read operation is done, rc is decremented. When re becomes
0, signal operation is used on wrt. So a writer can access the object now.

Writer Process
The code that defines the writer process is given below:
wait(wrt);
.
. WRITE INTO THE OBJECT
.
signal(wrt);
If a writer wants to access the object, wait operation is performed on wrt. After that no
other writer can access the object. When a writer is done writing into the object, signal
operation is performed on wrt.

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