Thread<ToolKit>

Thread<ToolKit> contains cross-platform thread and synchronization classes that create threads and coordinate their activities. Thread<ToolKit> offers more portability than any other current C++ implementation in existence today.

Although you can write powerful programs maximizing concurrency in a multithreaded environment, you can encounter problems. For example, most objects are not written with multithreading in mind. If two threads of control enter the same object and the object is not thread-aware, the internal data structure of the object can be corrupted.

This chapter provides a summary of classes included in the Thread<ToolKit> libraries and discusses the benefits of using Thread<ToolKit>. This chapter uses examples to illustrate thread and synchronization classes, and includes sections covering the following topics.

Threads and thread-specific data - Defines os_thread , os_this_thread, os_future_thread, os_future, os_trap, os_thread_pool and demonstrates spawning and controlling threads using several intuitive functions.
Semaphores - Discusses and defines six semaphore types. Both recursive and simple mutex semaphores are covered.

Critical section
Mutexes, including FIFO and priority
Read/write
Counting
Event

Condition mutex

Semaphore helpers - Discusses and defines five semaphore helper types.

Auto Lock
Monitor
Sentinel
Barrier
Condition

Producer-consumer containers - Discusses and defines three producer-consumer containers.

Priority queue
Queue
Stack

For information about initializing the Thread<ToolKit> or about how this toolkit handles exceptions, see Introduction to Foundations

Thread<ToolKit>

Thread<ToolKit> Classes

Thread<ToolKit> Benefits

Threads and Thread-Specific Data

Semaphores

Semaphore Helpers

Producer-Consumer Containers