Ok so you re-write zlib. Then re-write, imagemagic, then re-write glibc, then re-write other, etc, etc.
Yes you can do it. But after a while it is like plugging wholes in a piece of swiss cheese. That is what Joe was saying you start with code that doesn't run well concurrently because concurrency was added later. It is better sometimes to start from scratch with a language that makes concurrency the default and the sequential sections are the exception.
> AFAIK Erlang isn't some magical language that allows traditionally-locked data structures to become lock-free.
There is some magic in how it has separate heaps and how it maps schedulers n:m (n cpus say 2 to 24 to m processes say 2 to 300k), how it provides concurrent garbage collection without stopping the world, how it provides hot code reloaded if that is what you need.
No it won't make coffee for you and it might not work well for a lot of tasks but it just happens to be the right tool for the right job lately as reliable concurrent back-ends becomes more important (as opposed to say single threaded desktop applications)
Yes you can do it. But after a while it is like plugging wholes in a piece of swiss cheese. That is what Joe was saying you start with code that doesn't run well concurrently because concurrency was added later. It is better sometimes to start from scratch with a language that makes concurrency the default and the sequential sections are the exception.
> AFAIK Erlang isn't some magical language that allows traditionally-locked data structures to become lock-free.
There is some magic in how it has separate heaps and how it maps schedulers n:m (n cpus say 2 to 24 to m processes say 2 to 300k), how it provides concurrent garbage collection without stopping the world, how it provides hot code reloaded if that is what you need.
No it won't make coffee for you and it might not work well for a lot of tasks but it just happens to be the right tool for the right job lately as reliable concurrent back-ends becomes more important (as opposed to say single threaded desktop applications)