Ring buffer API

The data structure is extremely simple: a bounded FIFO. One step up from plain arrays, but still, it’s very basic stuff. And if you’re doing system programming, particularly anything involving IO or directly talking to hardware.

The producer produces commands/objects/packets/whatever in some way and appends them to the queue. The consumer pops an item from the start and does its work. If the queue is full, the producer has to wait; if it’s empty, the consumer has to wait. As programmer feeding hardware (or being fed from hardware), you’re generally trying to reach a steady state that does neither.