Task: Atomic updates
C++: #include <algorithm>
#include <array>
#include <chrono>
#include <iomanip>
#include <iostream>
#include <mutex>
#include <random>
#include <thread>

using namespace std;

constexpr int bucket_count = 15;

void equalizer(array<int, bucket_count>& buckets,
               array<mutex, bucket_count>& bucket_mutex) {
    random_device rd;
    mt19937 gen(rd());
    uniform_int_distribution<> dist_bucket(0, bucket_count - 1);

    while (true) {
        int from = dist_bucket(gen);
        int to = dist_bucket(gen);
        if (from != to) {
            lock_guard<mutex> lock_first(bucket_mutex[min(from, to)]);
            lock_guard<mutex> lock_second(bucket_mutex[max(from, to)]);
            int diff = buckets[from] - buckets[to];
            int amount = abs(diff / 2);
            if (diff < 0) {
                swap(from, to);
            }
            buckets[from] -= amount;
            buckets[to] += amount;
        }
    }
}

void randomizer(array<int, bucket_count>& buckets,
                array<mutex, bucket_count>& bucket_mutex) {
    random_device rd;
    mt19937 gen(rd());
    uniform_int_distribution<> dist_bucket(0, bucket_count - 1);

    while (true) {
        int from = dist_bucket(gen);
        int to = dist_bucket(gen);
        if (from != to) {
            lock_guard<mutex> lock_first(bucket_mutex[min(from, to)]);
            lock_guard<mutex> lock_second(bucket_mutex[max(from, to)]);
            uniform_int_distribution<> dist_amount(0, buckets[from]);
            int amount = dist_amount(gen);
            buckets[from] -= amount;
            buckets[to] += amount;
        }
    }
}

void print_buckets(const array<int, bucket_count>& buckets) {
    int total = 0;
    for (const int& bucket : buckets) {
        total += bucket;
        cout << setw(3) << bucket << ' ';
    }
    cout << "= " << setw(3) << total << endl;
}

int main() {
    random_device rd;
    mt19937 gen(rd());
    uniform_int_distribution<> dist(0, 99);

    array<int, bucket_count> buckets;
    array<mutex, bucket_count> bucket_mutex;
    for (int& bucket : buckets) {
        bucket = dist(gen);
    }
    print_buckets(buckets);

    thread t_eq(equalizer, ref(buckets), ref(bucket_mutex));
    thread t_rd(randomizer, ref(buckets), ref(bucket_mutex));

    while (true) {
        this_thread::sleep_for(chrono::seconds(1));
        for (mutex& mutex : bucket_mutex) {
            mutex.lock();
        }
        print_buckets(buckets);
        for (mutex& mutex : bucket_mutex) {
            mutex.unlock();
        }
    }
    return 0;
}

Python: from __future__ import with_statement 
import threading
import random
import time

terminate = threading.Event()

class Buckets:
    def __init__(self, nbuckets):
        self.nbuckets = nbuckets
        self.values = [random.randrange(10) for i in range(nbuckets)]
        self.lock = threading.Lock()

    def __getitem__(self, i):
        return self.values[i]

    def transfer(self, src, dst, amount):
        with self.lock:
            amount = min(amount, self.values[src])
            self.values[src] -= amount
            self.values[dst] += amount

    def snapshot(self):
        
        with self.lock:
            return self.values[:]

def randomize(buckets):
    nbuckets = buckets.nbuckets
    while not terminate.isSet():
        src = random.randrange(nbuckets)
        dst = random.randrange(nbuckets)
        if dst!=src:
            amount = random.randrange(20)
            buckets.transfer(src, dst, amount)

def equalize(buckets):
    nbuckets = buckets.nbuckets
    while not terminate.isSet():
        src = random.randrange(nbuckets)
        dst = random.randrange(nbuckets)
        if dst!=src:
            amount = (buckets[src] - buckets[dst]) // 2
            if amount>=0: buckets.transfer(src, dst, amount)
            else: buckets.transfer(dst, src, -amount)

def print_state(buckets):
    snapshot = buckets.snapshot()
    for value in snapshot:
        print '%2d' % value,
    print '=', sum(snapshot)


buckets = Buckets(15)


t1 = threading.Thread(target=randomize, args=[buckets])
t1.start()


t2 = threading.Thread(target=equalize, args=[buckets])
t2.start()


try:
    while True:
        print_state(buckets)
        time.sleep(1)
except KeyboardInterrupt: 
    terminate.set()


t1.join()
t2.join()