[tedunangst]

That only works with coherent in order memory operations. Once you add the appropriate memory barriers, it looks a lot more "atomic".

[dkersten]

I chose that example because its easy to understand, obviously in modern processors with out of order execution and whatnot, you would need something a lot more elaborate.

Once you add the appropriate memory barriers, it looks a lot more "atomic"

Well, they force in order memory access. That doesn't look terribly "atomic" to me, but I understand your point.