What are the best practices for using spinlocks in concurrent programming?

What are the best practices for using spinlocks in concurrent programming?

When using spinlocks, it's important to keep the critical section short to avoid wasting CPU cycles.

Are there specific scenarios where spinlocks are preferred over mutexes?

Yes, spinlocks are preferred in scenarios where the wait time is expected to be very short, as they avoid the overhead of context switching.

What are the downsides of using spinlocks?

The main downsides include potential CPU starvation and increased contention, which can lead to performance degradation.

How do I implement a spinlock in C?

You can implement a spinlock using atomic operations, typically with a simple loop that checks and sets a flag.

Can spinlocks be used in real-time systems?

Yes, but you must ensure that the spinlock is not held for too long to meet real-time constraints.