How to synchronize a python dict with multiprocessing

Question

I am using Python 2.6 and the multiprocessing module for multi-threading. Now I would like to have a synchronized dict (where the only atomic operation I really need is the

Answer 1

In response to an appropriate solution to the concurrent-write issue. I did very quick research and found that this article is suggesting a lock/semaphore solution. (http://effbot.org/zone/thread-synchronization.htm)

While the example isn't specificity on a dictionary, I'm pretty sure you could code a class-based wrapper object to help you work with dictionaries based on this idea.

If I had a requirement to implement something like this in a thread safe manner, I'd probably use the Python Semaphore solution. (Assuming my earlier merge technique wouldn't work.) I believe that semaphores generally slow down thread efficiencies due to their blocking nature.

From the site:

A semaphore is a more advanced lock mechanism. A semaphore has an internal counter rather than a lock flag, and it only blocks if more than a given number of threads have attempted to hold the semaphore. Depending on how the semaphore is initialized, this allows multiple threads to access the same code section simultaneously.

semaphore = threading.BoundedSemaphore()
semaphore.acquire() # decrements the counter
... access the shared resource; work with dictionary, add item or whatever.
semaphore.release() # increments the counter