Why my thread is not running at all? (Cpp multithreading) - c++

Question

I am new to threading, and i am trying to write a function that keep outputing an variable while i should be able to change that variable at runtime, and the output should change to my input once I input a new value in. By the following program is not running as i expected, whats wrong here? is there anything i can reference to so i can build this funciton out?
int a;
void* ptr;
void* Input(void* arg){
while(true){
std::cin >> a;
std::cout << std::endl;
}
return ptr;
}
void* Output(void *arg){
while(true){
std::cout << a << std::endl;
}
return ptr;
}
int main(){
pthread_t GetInput;
pthread_create(&GetInput,NULL,Input,NULL);
pthread_t GetOutput;
pthread_create(&GetOutput,NULL,Output,NULL);
}

Answer 1

Your main thread is not waiting for your child thread and exited when main() returned. To make your main thread to wait for children finish their jobs, you should call pthread_join() for them.
int main(){
pthread_t GetInput;
pthread_create(&GetInput,NULL,Input,NULL);
pthread_t GetOutput;
pthread_create(&GetOutput,NULL,Output,NULL);
pthread_join(GetInput, NULL);
pthread_join(GetOutput, NULL);
return 0;
}
Here's another alternative using std::async() for your code.
#include <chrono>
#include <future>
#include <iostream>
#include <mutex>
int a;
std::mutex mtx_;
void Input(void* arg) {
while (true) {
int tmp_a;
std::cin >> tmp_a;
{
std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(mtx_);
a = tmp_a;
}
std::cout << std::endl;
}
}
void Output(void* arg) {
while (true) {
{
std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(mtx_);
std::cout << a << std::endl;
}
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::seconds(1));
}
}
int main() {
auto ft_in = std::async(std::launch::async, Input, &a);
auto ft_out = std::async(std::launch::async, Output, &a);
ft_in.wait();
ft_out.wait();
return 0;
}

Answer 2

Well,I don't know how to use pthread.
And it seems Mr.john-park or Ms.john-park already gave a answer.
But I think use thread is a better choice.
To use it,we should:
#include<thread>
After that,if u want to start a new thread,and "connect" it with a function(In fact,we usually do)
There is a class named thread.
First,we should
thread *thread name*(*function name*);
WARNING:function nameshould be without "(" and ")"
May because here should be a pointer.
Then,to the question.
Suppose we wrote:
thread GetInput(Input);
thread GetOutput(Output);
When u want to stop GetOutput some time and run GetInput,
just
GetInput.join()
Here's a not so good example:
#include <iostream>
#include <thread>
using namespace std;
void f1()
{
while (true)
{
cout << "THREAD 1!" << endl;
}
}
void f2()
{
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
cout << "THREAD 2!" << endl;
thread t1(f1);
t1.join();
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
cout << "THREAD 2!" << endl;
}
int main()
{
thread t2(f2);
return 0;
}
First,we started t2.
Then t2 started t1.
Now we can know why we use join().
If we don't join(),
It'll be hard for us to read the output because it'll close the cmd window quickly.
But we can know,
after t2 end,
return 0;
ran.
But if we used join()
Here's the output:
THREAD 2!
THREAD 2!
THREAD 2!
...(THREAD 2!*10)
THREAD 1!
THREAD 1!
...(Always THREAD 1!)