Given a (doubly) linked list of objects (C++), I have an operation that I would like multithread, to perform on each object. The cost of the operation is not uniform for each object. The linked list is the preferred storage for this set of objects for a variety of reasons. The 1st element in each object is the pointer to the next object; the 2nd element is the previous object in the list.

I have solved the problem by building an array of nodes, and applying OpenMP. This gave decent performance. I then switched to my own threading routines (based off Windows primitives) and by using InterlockedIncrement() (acting on the index into the array), I can achieve higher overall CPU utilization and faster through-put. Essentially, the threads work by "leap-frog'ing" along the elements.

My next approach to optimization is to try to eliminate creating/reusing the array of elements in my linked list. However, I'd like to continue with this "leap-frog" approach and somehow use some nonexistent routine that could be called "InterlockedCompareDereference" - to atomically compare against NULL (end of list) and conditionally dereference & store, returning the dereferenced value.

I don't think InterlockedCompareExchangePointer() will work since I cannot atomically dereference the pointer and call this Interlocked() method. I've done some reading and others are suggesting critical sections or spin-locks. Critical sections seem heavy-weight here. I'm tempted to try spin-locks but I thought I'd first pose the question here and ask what other people are doing. I'm not convinced that the InterlockedCompareExchangePointer() method itself could be used like a spin-lock. Then one also has to consider acquire/release/fence semantics...

Ideas? Thanks!