We went through a helpful analogy in lecture that explains the utility of these data structures. Imagine that we're all in a room and that we want to write something on a whiteboard, but only one idea should be conveyed at once. To enforce this, we introduce a soda can: if you're holding the soda can, you can go write on the whiteboard. If the person holding the soda can leaves, we can't do anything anymore. Lock free data structures say you can all write on the whiteboard simultaneously, but all but one of us have to erase our work.

Are there algorithms where the threads on the same chip would use algorithms with locks, whereas the threads across different chips or racks would use lock free data algorithms? I am curious about whether there are hybrid approaches regarding synchronization mechanisms.

Are there any C++ libraries that provide atomic data structures without locking (list, stack, etc)?