Entwined-STM

Entwined is a Software Transactional Memory implementing collections with semantic concurrency control. Library provides ACI (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation) guarantees with closed nested transactions.

The following collections have been implemented so far:

• TransactionalMap - interface similar to java.util.Map but with fewer functions
• TransactionalMultimap - similar to Guava Multimap
• TransactionalQueue - implements java.util.Queue interface
• TransactionalRef - holds a single value.
• GlobalReference - a special case of TransactionalRef that can be used as a field in any class.

Library is very mature and is at the core of OASIS which is a mission critical system at CERN.

Overview

Entry point to the library is the Memory class. To construct it client has to provide an instance of the SemiPersistent abstract class. All the transactional collections listed above extend this class.

The client can define her own transactional data type by directly extending SemiPersistent class or by using CompositeCollection. TestSnapshot is a good example of a custom implementation.

To access the memory client has to run transaction:

Memory<TransactionalMap<Integer, Integer>> memory = new Memory<TransactionalMap<Integer, Integer>>(
                new TransactionalMap<Integer, Integer>());
memory.runTransaction(new Transaction<TransactionalMap<Integer, Integer>>() {
    @Override
    public boolean run(TransactionalMap<Integer, Integer> data) throws Exception {
        //Operate on data here.

        return true; //true to commit, false to rollback
    }

    @Override
    public void committed(TransactionalMap<Integer, Integer> data) throws Exception {
        //Called when transaction has been committed. Commit callbacks are globally ordered
        //and are called in the commit order.

        //Read data here, any changes will be discarded.
    }
}

During commit memory may detect conflicts due to concurrent changes. In such a case Memory class will restart the transaction by discarding all the modifications done in the run method and by calling it again with the fresh snapshot of the data. Because of this it is crucial to never perform output in the run method, any output operation should be reserved for the committed block.

Examples

You can find examples in src/test/java/cern/entwined/demo. Here I list some of them.

• SingleMapDemo quickly demonstrates how to use signle TransactionalMap.
• IsolationDemo demonstrates that local changes in a transaction are not visible to concurrent transactions.
• RollbackDemo shows that if transaction is terminated by an exception any local changes are discarded.
• Clojure examples makes use of Clojure facade. Shows how to crate a custom snapshot and access it.

Installation

For Maven users please add this dependency to your pom.xml:

<dependency>
	<groupId>ch.cern</groupId>
	<artifactId>entwined-stm</artifactId>
	<version>1.0.1</version>
</dependency>

For Leiningen users please add this line to your project.clj:

[ch.cern/entwined-stm "1.0.1"]

License

© Copyright 2013 CERN. This software is distributed under the terms of the Apache License Version 2.0, copied verbatim in the file "COPYING". In applying this licence, CERN does not waive the privileges and immunities granted to it by virtue of its status as an Intergovernmental Organization or submit itself to any jurisdiction.