Building a Fast Lock-Free Queue in Modern C++ From Scratch
Summary
A practical guide to building a fast, lock-free queue in modern C++ from scratch. It starts with a mutex-based baseline, explains the ABA problem and CAS-based lock-free design, then introduces batching, hazard pointers for safe memory reclamation, and thread-local caches to avoid allocator contention. The article also provides benchmarks showing when lock-free queues outperform mutex-based queues and how to tune configurations.