Professional C++, 6th Edition

27Multithreaded Programming with C++

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• What multithreaded programming is
• How to launch multiple threads
• How to (sort of) cancel threads
• How to retrieve results from threads
• What deadlocks and race conditions are, and how to use mutual exclusion to prevent them
• How to use atomic types and atomic operations
• What condition variables are
• How to use semaphores, latches, and barriers
• How to use futures and promises for inter-thread communication
• What thread pools are
• What resumable functions, or coroutines, are

WILEY.COM DOWNLOADS FOR THIS CHAPTER

Please note that all the code examples for this chapter are available as part of this chapter's code download on the book's website at www.wiley.com/go/proc++6e on the Download Code tab.

Multithreaded programming is important on computer systems with multiple processor units. It allows you to write a program to use all those processor units in parallel. There are multiple ways for a system to have multiple processor units. The system can have multiple discrete processor chips, each one an independent central processing unit (CPU). Or, the system can have a single discrete processor chip that internally consists of multiple independent CPUs, also called cores. These kinds of processors are called multicore processors. A system can also have a combination of both. Systems with multiple processor units have existed for a long time; however, they were rarely used in consumer systems. Today, all CPU vendors ...