Haswell's transactional memory explained


by Scott Wasson — 10:40 AM on February 16, 2012

Beyond Sandy Bridge, beyond Ivy Bridge, the next generation on the Intel roadmap is a processor code-named Haswell. We don't yet know much about the specifics of that CPU, but a key detail trickled out recently: Haswell will have extensions to support a feature called transactional memory—a capability that could speed the execution and simplify the development of widely multithreaded applications.

If you'd like to get a sense for what transactional memory is all about, well, you're in luck, because David Kanter at Real World Tech has produced a nice primer on the subject with some speculation, analysis, and handicapping of Intel's plans. He covers the academic research into transactional memory, early commercial developments, Intel's TSX extensions, and what it all likely means for Haswell. Read up to PYAITK, as Billy Wilson would say.

   
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