ACE vs Boost: Singleton的实现

本文同步自游戏人生

以前曾经讨论过Singleton的实现，这次在对照ACE和Boost代码的时候，又重新审视了一下二者对Singleton不同的实现。其间的差别也体现了不同的编程哲学：ACE的实现更加偏重多线程中的安全和效率问题；Boost的实现则偏重于使用语言自身的特性满足Singleton模式的基本需求。

o ACE的实现

Douglas C. Schmidt在Double-Checked Locking: An Optimization Pattern for Efficiently Initializing and Accessing Thread-safe Objects一文中对double-check lock（一般译为双检锁）进行了详细的阐述。

ACE的Singleton使用Adapter模式实现对其他类的适配，使之具有全局唯一的实例。由于C++标准并非明确指定全局静态对象的初始化顺序，ACE使用double-check lock保证线程安全，并使之不受全局静态对象初始化顺序的影响，同时也避免了全局静态实现方式的初始化后不使用的开销。

如果你能够准确的区分以下三种实现的弊端和隐患，对double-check lock也就有了足够的了解。

// -------------------------------------------
class Singleton
{
public:
    static Singleton *instance (void)
    {
        // Constructor of guard acquires
        // lock_ automatically.
        Guard<Mutex> guard (lock_);
        // Only one thread in the
        // critical section at a time.
        if (instance_ == 0)
            instance_ = new Singleton;
        return instance_;
        // Destructor of guard releases
        // lock_ automatically.
    }
private:
    static Mutex lock_;
    static Singleton *instance_;
};

// ---------------------------------------------
static Singleton *instance (void)
{
    if (instance_ == 0) {
        Guard<Mutex> guard (lock_);
        // Only come here if instance_
        // hasn’t been initialized yet.
        instance_ = new Singleton;
    }
    return instance_;
}

// ---------------------------------------------
class Singleton
{
public:
    static Singleton *instance (void)
    {
        // First check
        if (instance_ == 0)
        {
            // Ensure serialization (guard
            // constructor acquires lock_).
            Guard<Mutex> guard (lock_);
            // Double check.
            if (instance_ == 0)
                instance_ = new Singleton;
        }
        return instance_;
        // guard destructor releases lock_.
    }
private:
    static Mutex lock_;
    static Singleton *instance_;
};

更多详情，见Schmidt老师的原文和ACE_Singleton实现。

o Boost的实现

Boost的Singleton也是线程安全的，而且没有使用锁机制。当然，Boost的Singleton有以下限制（遵从这些限制，可以提高效率）：

o The classes below support usage of singletons, including use in program startup/shutdown code, AS LONG AS there is only one thread running before main() begins, and only one thread running after main() exits.

o This class is also limited in that it can only provide singleton usage for classes with default constructors.

// T must be: no-throw default constructible and no-throw destructible
template <typename T>
struct singleton_default
{
private:
    struct object_creator
    {
        // This constructor does nothing more than ensure that instance()
        //  is called before main() begins, thus creating the static
        //  T object before multithreading race issues can come up.
        object_creator() { singleton_default<T>::instance(); }
        inline void do_nothing() const { }
    };
    static object_creator create_object;

    singleton_default();

public:
    typedef T object_type;

    // If, at any point (in user code), singleton_default<T>::instance()
    //  is called, then the following function is instantiated.
    static object_type & instance()
    {
        // This is the object that we return a reference to.
        // It is guaranteed to be created before main() begins because of
        //  the next line.
      static object_type obj;

      // The following line does nothing else than force the instantiation
      //  of singleton_default<T>::create_object, whose constructor is
      //  called before main() begins.
      create_object.do_nothing();

      return obj;
    }
};
template <typename T>
typename singleton_default<T>::object_creator
singleton_default<T>::create_object;

对于多数Singleton使用，Boost提供的版本完全能够满足需求。为了效率，我们有必要对其使用作出一定的限制。

而在多线程编程中，则有必要使用double-check lock降低频繁加锁带来的开销。

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PS: 欣赏Soft的一句话：经得起诱惑，耐得住寂寞。