Commit-reconcile & fences (CRF): a new memory model for architects and compiler writers
Xiaowei Shen, Arvind Arvind, Larry Rudolph · 1999
We present a new mechanism-oriented memory model called Commit-Reconcile & Fences (CRF) and define it using algebraic rules. Many existing memory models can be described as restricted versions of CRF. The model has been designed so that it is both easy for architects to implement, and stable enough to serve as a target machine interface for compilers of high-level languages. The CRF model exposes a semantic notion of caches (saches), and decomposes load and store instructions into finer-grain operations. We sketch how to integrate CRF into modern microprocessors and outline an adaptive coherence protocol to implement CRF in distributed shared-memory systems. CRF offers an upward compatible way to design next generation computer systems. 1. Loads and Stores: The CISC of Nineties Caching and instruction reordering are ubiquitous features of modern computer systems and are necessary to achieve higher performance. For uniprocessor configurations, these features are mostly transparent and...