3.4.2. Mechanisms for Controlling Concurrency
Serialized make-account
Ben Bitdiddle worries that it would be better to implement the bank account as follows (where the commented line has been changed):
(define (make-account balance)
(define (withdraw amount)
(if (>= balance amount)
(begin (set! balance (- balance amount))
balance)
"Insufficient funds"))
(define (deposit amount)
(set! balance (+ balance amount))
balance)
(let ((protected (make-serializer)))
(define (dispatch m)
(cond ((eq? m 'withdraw) (protected withdraw))
((eq? m 'deposit) (protected deposit))
((eq? m 'balance)
((protected (lambda () balance)))) ; serialized
(else (error "Unknown request -- MAKE-ACCOUNT"
m))))
dispatch))
because allowing unserialized access to the bank balance can result in anomalous behavior. Do you agree? Is there any scenario that demonstrates Ben's concern?
Nobody's finished this exercise yet. You'll be the first!