.. _avoiding_data_races:

Avoiding Data Races

The edges in a flow graph make explicit the dependence relationships that you want the library to enforce. Similarly, the concurrency limits on function_node and multifunction_node objects limit the maximum number of concurrent invocations that the runtime library will allow. These are the limits that are enforced by the library; the library does not automatically protect you from data races. You must explicitly prevent data races by using these mechanisms.

For example, the follow code has a data race because there is nothing to prevent concurrent accesses to the global count object referenced by node f:

::

 graph g;
 int src_count = 1;
 int global_sum = 0;
 int limit = 100000;

 input_node< int > src( g, [&]( oneapi::tbb::flow_control& fc ) -> int {
   if ( src_count <= limit ) {
     return src_count++;
   } else {
     fc.stop();
     return int();
   }
 } );
 src.activate();

 function_node< int, int > f( g, unlimited, [&]( int i ) -> int {
   global_sum += i;  // data race on global_sum
   return i; 
 } );


 make_edge( src, f );
 g.wait_for_all();


 cout << "global sum = " << global_sum 
      << " and closed form = " << limit*(limit+1)/2 << "\n";

If you run the above example, it will likely calculate a global sum that is a bit smaller than the expected solution due to the data race. The data race could be avoided in this simple example by changing the allowed concurrency in f from unlimited to 1, forcing each value to be processed sequentially by f. You may also note that the input_node also updates a global value, src_count. However, since an input_node always executes serially, there is no race possible.