How to make a multiple-read/single-write lock from more basic synchronization primitives?

Question

We have found that we have several spots in our code where concurrent reads of data protected by a mutex are rather common, while writes are rare. Our measurements seem to s

Answer 1

Now that Microsoft has opened up the .NET source code, you can look at their ReaderWRiterLockSlim implementation.

I'm not sure the more basic primitives they use are available to you, some of them are also part of the .NET library and their code is also available.

Microsoft has spent quite a lot of time on improving the performance of their locking mechanisms, so this can be a good starting point.