From DALL-E with some prompting
The image explains the “Read-Copy Update” mechanism, illustrating the process of reading and writing data in concurrent programming divided into two parts.
The left section, accompanied by the phrase “Easy to Read,” shows arrows from three gear icons pointing towards a document icon. This represents the “Wait-Free Reads” process, indicating that multiple threads can read data simultaneously without waiting.
The right section, labeled “Complex to Write,” demonstrates that the writing process is more complicated. During the “Grace Period,” the old data can still be read, but after copying is finished, the new data is read. During this period, the old data is subject to “Old → Garbage Collection,” meaning it will be discarded through garbage collection. This mechanism ensures that data reads are not blocked while the data is being updated.
The Read-Copy Update is a strategy used in systems handling concurrency to maintain data consistency while optimizing the performance of read operations. Although the process of writing data is complex, the mechanism is designed to allow reads to be simple and fast.
Lechuck Park 