Variable Not In Scope for Lambda - c++

Question

I'm trying to diagnose a timing issue on a multi-core processor [Xeon Silver]. I think that the clocks have not been configured or synced between the processor. I'm using Eli Bendersky's [credited in the code snippet] threading examples to build a test instrument. I have made three changes. I made made the sleep occur first, and I added a call to std::chrono::system_clock::now() and tried to print it out. I'm building with gcc 4.8.5 on CentOS 7.5.
The code is as follows:
// // Eli Bendersky [http://eli.thegreenplace.net]
// This code is in the public domain.
#include <algorithm>
#include <chrono>
#include <iostream>
#include <mutex>
#include <thread>
#include <vector>
#include <pthread.h>
int main(int argc, const char** argv) {
unsigned num_cpus = std::thread::hardware_concurrency();
std::cout << "Launching " << num_cpus << " threads\n";
// A mutex ensures orderly access to std::cout from multiple threads.
std::mutex iomutex;
std::vector<std::thread> threads(num_cpus);
for (unsigned i = 0; i < num_cpus; ++i)
{
threads[i] = std::thread([&iomutex, i]
{
// Simulate important work done by the tread by sleeping for a bit...
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(200));
{
std::chrono::time_point ti = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
// Use a lexical scope and lock_guard to safely lock the mutex only for
// the duration of std::cout usage.
std::lock_guard<std::mutex> iolock(iomutex);
std::cout << "Thread #" << i << " hit its clock at: " << ti.time_since_epoch() << "\n";
}
});
}
for (auto& t : threads) {
t.join();
}
return 0;
}
I build with make:
CXX = g++
CXXFLAGS = -std=c++11 -Wall -O3 -g -DNDEBUG -pthread
LDFLAGS = -lpthread -pthread
clock-check: clock-check.cpp
$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) $^ -o $# $(LDFLAGS)
GCC gives me the following error:
[user#sbc1 concur]$ make clock-check
g++ -std=c++11 -Wall -O3 -g -DNDEBUG -pthread clock-check.cpp -o clock-check -lpthread -pthread
clock-check.cpp: In lambda function:
clock-check.cpp:32:67: error: ‘ti’ was not declared in this scope
std::cout << "Thread #" << i << " hit its clock at: " << ti.time_since_epoch() << "\n";
^
make: *** [clock-check] Error 1
ti is clearly in the same block scope as the print statement, and I'm baffled why the compiler is complaining. I have not found any restrictions on variables local to the lambda. Most of what I have found has been references to captures.

Answer 1

Your problem lies in this line:
std::chrono::time_point ti = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
std::chrono::time_point expect a type argument (e.g. std::chrono::time_point<std::chrono::system_clock>)
Prefer to use auto in this case:
auto ti = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
Then, you'll have an error since you try to output a std::chrono::duration in an output stream.
You should do:
std::cout << "Thread #" << i << " hit its clock at: " << ti.time_since_epoch().count() << "\n";

Answer 2

It seems to be a bug in older gcc versions. With gcc 10.1 (--std=c++11) I get the error:
<source>: In lambda function:
<source>:23:34: error: missing template arguments before 'ti'
23 | std::chrono::time_point ti = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
| ^~
<source>:27:67: error: 'ti' was not declared in this scope; did you mean 'i'?
27 | std::cout << "Thread #" << i << " hit its clock at: " << ti.time_since_epoch() << "\n";
| ^~
|
The error about the missing template parameter (which is missing with gcc 4.5.8) on the declaration explains the second error.
Strangely gcc 4.8.5 with -std=c++11 happily compiles the code if you remove the line with std::cout: https://godbolt.org/z/6LREHF

Answer 3

Class template deduction is not available until c++17, so you need to specify your template parameters for chrono::timepoint. Alternatively, use auto:
auto ti = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
Furthermore, you attempt to stream a chrono::duration type, which is not possible. Use ti.time_since_epoch().count().
Live example