What volatile Actually Governs: It Holds Back the Compiler, Not Data Races

volatile may be the most misunderstood keyword in C++. This topic covers only what it actually governs: restraining the compiler from merging, deleting, or reordering memory accesses. Data races are none of its business, and disassembly draws the boundary.

STARTFINISHThe Three Things volatile Bans in a Single Thread: Merging, Elimination, and Reordering→STARTFINISHvolatile Doesn't Stop Data Races: Lost Updates Up Close and the Line Drawn by the lock Prefix→STARTFINISHvolatile's Standard Boundary: The Deprecation List, Device Registers, and a Decision Rule→