Title :
Are wait-free algorithms fast?
Author :
Attiya, Hagit ; Lynch, Nancy ; Shavit, Nir
Author_Institution :
Lab. for Comput. Sci., MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
Abstract :
The time complexity of wait-free algorithms in so-called normal executions, where no failures occur and processes operate at approximately the same speed, is considered. A lower bound of log n on the time complexity of any wait-free algorithm that achieves approximate agreement among n processes is proved. In contrast, there exists a non-wait-free algorithm that solves this problem in constant time. This implies an Ω(log n)-time separation between the wait-free and non-wait-free computation models. An O(log n)-time wait-free approximate agreement algorithm is presented. Its complexity is within a small constant of the lower bound
Keywords :
algorithm theory; computational complexity; distributed processing; parallel algorithms; approximate agreement; computation models; execution speed; normal executions; shared memory distributed systems; time complexity; wait-free algorithms; Algorithm design and analysis; Atomic measurements; Computational modeling; Computer science; Contracts; Delay; Read-write memory; Time measurement; Time sharing computer systems; Writing;
Conference_Titel :
Foundations of Computer Science, 1990. Proceedings., 31st Annual Symposium on
Conference_Location :
St. Louis, MO
Print_ISBN :
0-8186-2082-X
DOI :
10.1109/FSCS.1990.89524