When can 64-bit writes be guaranteed to be atomic, when programming in C on an Intel x86-based platform (in particular, an Intel-based Mac running MacOSX 10.4 using the Intel compiler)? For exampl...
11 The difference is that a normal load/store is not guaranteed to be tear-free, whereas a relaxed atomic read/write is. Also, the atomic guarantees that the compiler doesn't rearrange or optimise-out memory accesses in a similar fashion to what volatile guarantees. (Pre-C++11, volatile was an essential part of rolling your own atomics.