Concurrent Programming on
Windows by Joe Duffy
5 Stars Are Not Enough
“I have been fascinated with concurrency ever since I added threading
support to the Common Language Runtime a decade ago. That’s also
where I met Joe, who is a world expert on this topic. These days,
concurrency is a first-order concern for practically all developers. Thank
goodness for Joe’s book. It is a tour de force and I shall rely on it for many
years to come.”
–Chris Brumme, Distinguished Engineer, Microsoft
“I first met Joe when we were both working with the Microsoft CLR team.
At that time, we had several discussions about threading and it was
apparent that he was as passionate about this subject as I was. Later, Joe
transitioned to Microsoft’s Parallel Computing Platform team where a lot of

his good ideas about threading could come to fruition. Most threading and
concurrency books that I have come across contain information that is
incorrect and explains how to solve contrived problems that good
architecture would never get you into in the first place. Joe’s book is one of
the very few books that I respect on the matter, and this respect comes
from knowing Joe’s knowledge, experience, and his ability to explain
concepts.”
–Jeffrey Richter, Wintellect
“There are few areas in computing that are as important, or shrouded in
mystery, as concurrency. It’s not simple, and Duffy doesn’t claim to make it
so–but armed with the right information and excellent advice, creating
correct and highly scalable systems is at least possible. Every self-
respecting Windows developer should read this book.”
–Jonathan Skeet, Software Engineer, Clearswift
“What I love about this book is that it is both comprehensive in its
coverage of concurrency on the Windows platform, as well as very
practical in its presentation of techniques immediately applicable to real-
world software development. Joe’s book is a ‘must have’ resource for
anyone building native or managed code Windows applications that
leverage concurrency!”
–Steve Teixeira, Product Unit Manager, Parallel Computing Platform,
Microsoft Corporation
“This book is a fabulous compendium of both theoretical knowledge and
practical guidance on writing effective concurrent applications. Joe Duffy is
not only a preeminent expert in the art of developing parallel applications
for Windows, he’s also a true student of the art of writing. For this book, he
has combined those two skill sets to create what deserves and is destined
to be a long-standing classic in developers’ hands everywhere.”
–Stephen Toub, Program Manager Lead, Parallel Computing Platform,
Microsoft
“As chip designers run out of ways to make the individual chip faster, they
have moved towards adding parallel compute capacity instead. Consumer
PCs with multiple cores are now commonplace. We are at an inflection

point where improved performance will no longer come from faster chips
but rather from our ability as software developers to exploit concurrency.
Understanding the concepts of concurrent programming and how to write
concurrent code has therefore become a crucial part of writing successful
software. With Concurrent Programming on Windows, Joe Duffy has done
a great job explaining concurrent concepts from the fundamentals through
advanced techniques. The detailed descriptions of algorithms and their
interaction with the underlying hardware turn a complicated subject into
something very approachable. This book is the perfect companion to have
at your side while writing concurrent software for Windows.”
–Jason Zander, General Manager, Visual Studio, Microsoft
“When you begin using multi-threading throughout an application, the
importance of clean architecture and design is critical. . . . This places an
emphasis on understanding not only the platform’s capabilities but also
emerging best practices. Joe does a great job interspersing best practices
alongside theory throughout his book.”
– From the Foreword by Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy
Officer, Microsoft Corporation
Author Joe Duffy has risen to the challenge of explaining how to write
software that takes full advantage of concurrency and hardware
parallelism. In Concurrent Programming on Windows, he explains how to
design, implement, and maintain large-scale concurrent programs,
primarily using C# and C++ for Windows.
Duffy aims to give application, system, and library developers the tools
and techniques needed to write efficient, safe code for multicore
processors. This is important not only for the kinds of problems where
concurrency is inherent and easily exploitable–such as server applications,
compute-intensive image manipulation, financial analysis, simulations, and
AI algorithms–but also for problems that can be speeded up using
parallelism but require more effort–such as math libraries, sort routines,
report generation, XML manipulation, and stream processing algorithms.
Concurrent Programming on Windows has four major sections: The first
introduces concurrency at a high level, followed by a section that focuses
on the fundamental platform features, inner workings, and API details.
Next, there is a section that describes common patterns, best practices,

algorithms, and data structures that emerge while writing concurrent
software. The final section covers many of the common system-wide
architectural and process concerns of concurrent programming.
This is the only book you’ll need in order to learn the best practices and
common patterns for programming with concurrency on Windows and
.NET.
Personal Review: Concurrent Programming on Windows by Joe
Duffy
This book provides an exhaustive treatment of everything concurrency
in .NET and Win32.
It's organized very clearly into multiple sections: Concepts, Mechanisms,
Techniques, Systems, and Appendices, and isn't missing a single thing.
From background information about the roots of present day parallel
algorithms and architecture, to how Windows and the CLR work internally,
to higher level application models and best practices, it's all there...
As other reviewers said, this is the only book you'll need on the topic. The
competition just doesn't have the broad coverage and incredible level of
depth as this one. The book can be daunting at first, mostly because of its
size (almost 1000 pages), but I found it surprisingly well written and
enjoyable to read. Much better written than most techie books. It took me
a few months to finish. I guess the author could have shortened it, but I
don't know what content could have gone; the book just wouldn't be as
great without every nugget of information that's in there right now. Some
of the sections (like the ones on concurrent containers, detailed parallel
algorithms like sorting, and memory models) took multiple reads for
everything to sink in. I'm still not sure I've absorbed it all, but thankfully the
book's organization makes it suitable as a reference too.
The target audience for the book as stated is any .NET or Windows
programmer. Realistically, it's best for senior architects and developers,
but could also be used to teach a university course or be read by less
experienced developers too. I actually ordered copies for my whole team
of 30 developers, all ranging in seniority, and it's basically required reading

at this point. The author makes the point that concurrency is everywhere,
and it's true. So the book isn't only for advanced new-age parallel
programs on multi-core, but also server-side programming (web, app,
SQL, map/reduce, data mining) and web apps. Really, everybody needs
to know this stuff to be taken seriously. I've started using lots of these
topics as interview questions.
What's best, the book is written by a Microsoft guy who runs the team
building new concurrency APIs in .NET and Win32 today. (See his blog at
http://www.bluebytesoftware.com/blog/ -- there's even a sample chapter
there.) This gives the book far more authority than any other on the topic.
I've downloaded CTPs of the .NET 4.0 parallel extensions (really amazing
stuff), and the book demonstrates in detail how a lot of it is built. There's
even an appendix covering the new APIs, so not only does it help build
real parallel applications today, it also shows what's coming down the road.
In summary: A fun, enlightening read! I'm actually considering rereading
the full 1000 pages again come this summer...
For More 5 Star Customer Reviews and Lowest Price:
Concurrent Programming on Windows by Joe Duffy 5 Star Customer Reviews and
Lowest Price!