Is pushing a variable onto an array a threadsafe operation?

Question

I have the following Perl code:

push(@myArray, $myValue);

Is the operation atomic, or will I need to use locks, if multiple threads will be performing this same operation on many threads?

Seems you want a Thrread::Queue object. – MkV Jul 22 '10 at 05:00 — MkV, Jul 22 '10 at 05:00
What do you mean 'same operation'? Is @myArray shared? – Pedro Silva Jul 22 '10 at 06:51 — Pedro Silva, Jul 22 '10 at 06:51

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 22 '10 at 21:24

The thread safety of most functions in perl depends on their underlying C routines, and in the case of built-ins, like push there is no mention of thread safety, so you must assume it is not.

Check out the perlthrtut man page, in particular the section titled "Basic Semaphores". Using a semaphore you can enforce mutual exclusion in arbitrary sections of code.

Is pushing a variable onto an array a threadsafe operation?

1 Answers1