Entries by Rainer Grimm

The Risks of Mutexes

The usage of mutexes seems extremely simple. There is a critical section in the code that a single thread can only access at any point in time. It’s ensured by a mutex m. The calls m.lock() and m.unlock() guarantee this exclusivity. But the devil is in the details.

Thread Arguments

A thread gets its data by copy or by reference. By default, you should use by copy. Why? In case your thread gets its data by reference, you have to be extremely careful about the lifetime of the arguments.

Thread Creation

Thread creation is easy. Call  std::thread, and a new thread will be created. The thread gets a work package and starts it immediately. The creator of the thread (the Parent) has to take care of the created thread (the child). The parent should wait until their child completes their task or has to detach himself […]