Understanding the example of using std::condition_variable - c++

There is example of using condition_variable taken from cppreference.com:
#include <condition_variable>
#include <mutex>
#include <thread>
#include <iostream>
#include <queue>
#include <chrono>
int main()
{
std::queue<int> produced_nums;
std::mutex m;
std::condition_variable cond_var;
bool done = false;
bool notified = false;
std::thread producer([&]() {
for (int i = 0; i < 5; ++i) {
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::seconds(1));
std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(m);
std::cout << "producing " << i << '\n';
produced_nums.push(i);
notified = true;
cond_var.notify_one();
}
std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(m);
notified = true;
done = true;
cond_var.notify_one();
});
std::thread consumer([&]() {
while (!done) {
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(m);
while (!notified) { // loop to avoid spurious wakeups
cond_var.wait(lock);
}
while (!produced_nums.empty()) {
std::cout << "consuming " << produced_nums.front() << '\n';
produced_nums.pop();
}
notified = false;
}
});
producer.join();
consumer.join();
}
If variable done comes true before the consumer thread is started, the consumer thread will not get any message. Indeed, sleep_for(seconds(1)) almost avoids such situation, but could it be possible in theory (or if don't have sleep in code)?
In my opinion correct version should look like this to force running consumer loop at least once:
std::thread consumer([&]() {
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(m);
do {
while (!notified || !done) { // loop to avoid spurious wakeups
cond_var.wait(lock);
}
while (!produced_nums.empty()) {
std::cout << "consuming " << produced_nums.front() << '\n';
produced_nums.pop();
}
notified = false;
} while (!done);
});

Yes, you are absolutely right: there is a (remote) possibility that the consumer thread will not start running until after done has been set. Further, the write to done in the producer thread and the read in the consumer thread produce a race condition, and the behavior is undefined. Same problem in your version. Wrap the mutex around the entire loop in each function. Sorry, don't have the energy to write the correct code.

Related

Mutex does not work as I expect. What is my mistake?

I was trying to figure out the data race theme, and I made this code. Here we work with the shared element wnd. I thought that by putting lock in the while loop, I would prohibit the th1 thread from working with wnd, but this did not happen and I see an unobstructed output of the th1 thread.
#include <iostream>
#include <thread>
#include <mutex>
#include <chrono>
int main()
{
bool wnd = true;
std::mutex mutex;
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(mutex, std::defer_lock);
std::thread th1([&]() {
int i = 0;
while (true)
{
++i;
if (wnd)
std::cout << i << " WND TRUE" << std::endl;
else
std::cout << i << " WND FALSE" << std::endl;
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(100));
}
});
while (true)
{
lock.lock();
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(2000));
if (wnd)
wnd = false;
else
wnd = true;
lock.unlock();
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(100));
}
th1.join();
return 0;
}
To tell the truth, I was hoping to see that the th1 thread stops printing for 2+-seconds at a time when the main thread is inside the lock section.
You are not using the mutex and specially std::unique_lock properly.
#include <iostream>
#include <thread>
#include <mutex>
#include <chrono>
int main()
{
bool wnd = true;
std::mutex mutex;
std::thread th1{[&]() {
for (int i = 0; i<10000; ++i)
{ std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(mutex);
std::cout << i << "\tWND\t " << std::boolalpha << wnd << std::endl;
};
}};
for (int i = 0; i<30; ++i)
{ std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(mutex);
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(2000));
wnd = !wnd;
};
th1.join();
}
std::unique_lock uses its constructor operand as a resource whose acquisition is lock and release is unlock. It is designed to use RAII as a means of guaranteeing correct lock/unlock sequences on mutexes. a defered lock only means the mutex is not locked at the begining of lifespan of the std::unique_lock and it is not the usual use case. You can manually lock/unlock the mutex, but that generally leads to less maintainable, more error-prone code.
Keep in mind that if the threads involved are not racing over the ownership of the mutex, neither waits for the other; in your original prorgram, the worker thread did not touch the mutex. But in the program above, both threads are competing to lock the mutex; winner gets a chance to continue what he wants, and the loser has to wait until the mutex is unlocked - so that he can take its ownership.

An example condition_variable::notify_one

from
#include <iostream>
#include <condition_variable>
#include <thread>
#include <chrono>
using namespace std::chrono_literals;
std::condition_variable cv;
std::mutex cv_m;
int i = 0;
bool done = false;
void waits()
{
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk(cv_m);
std::cout << "Waiting... \n";
cv.wait(lk, []{return i == 1;});
std::cout << "...finished waiting; i == " << i << '\n';
done = true;
}
void signals()
{
std::this_thread::sleep_for(200ms);
std::cout << "Notifying falsely...\n";
cv.notify_one(); // waiting thread is notified with i == 0.
// cv.wait wakes up, checks i, and goes back to waiting
std::this_thread::sleep_for(300ms); // Add to make sure 'waits' thread wakes up**
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk(cv_m);
i = 1;
while (!done)
{
std::cout << "Notifying true change...\n";
lk.unlock();
cv.notify_one(); // waiting thread is notified with i == 1, cv.wait returns**
std::this_thread::sleep_for(300ms);
lk.lock();
}
}
int main()
{
std::thread t1(waits), t2(signals);
t1.join();
t2.join();
}
This is an example I got from cppreference. I have tried to execute the codes and observe the second notify seems not effected. Even I commented it out, the "signals" thread is still done.
Should it be put in the forever loop ??
Also if I add a wait before taking the cv_m mutex, seems it's working as expected

C++ - How not to miss multiple notifications from multiple threads?

In my application, many threads notify a waiting thread. Sometimes these notifications are very close to each other in time and the waiting thread misses the notification. Is there any easy way to counter this issue? A small example code is given below. In the code, the task2 notifies the waiting thread but the waiting thread, waitingForWork, miss the notification.
#include <condition_variable>
#include <iostream>
#include <thread>
std::mutex mutex_;
std::condition_variable condVar;
bool dataReady{ false };
void waitingForWork() {
for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++)
{
std::cout << "Waiting " << std::endl;
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lck(mutex_);
condVar.wait(lck, [] { return dataReady; });
dataReady = false;
std::cout << "Running " << std::endl;
}
}
void task1() {
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds{ 45 });
std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lck(mutex_);
dataReady = true;
std::cout << "Task1 Done:" << std::endl;
condVar.notify_one();
}
void task2() {
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds{ 46 });
std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lck(mutex_);
dataReady = true;
std::cout << "Task2 Done" << std::endl;
condVar.notify_one();
}
int main() {
std::cout << std::endl;
std::thread t1(waitingForWork);
std::thread t2(task1);
std::thread t3(task2);
t1.join();
t2.join();
t3.join();
std::cout << std::endl;
system("pause");
}
It's a multiple producer single consumer problem. Which is described here:
Multiple consumer single producer problem
So basically you have to change your code in a way that each thread have to write notifications into a threadsafe queue.
And then your worker thread has to work on this queue and will not miss anymore notifications.

Condition Variable notify_one notify_all

I'm trying to learn the condition variables, and I'm stuck at the following example. I thought that notify_one on consumers should unlock only one waiting consumer. But after starting it repeatedly it seems to me that this isn't the case. I've changed notify_one into notify_all and haven't noticed a change in behavior. After the producer calls notify_one on consumers I can see Get… being written on screen by more then one consumer.
Why is this happening?
#include <iostream> // std::cout
#include <thread> // std::thread
#include <mutex> // std::mutex, std::unique_lock
#include <condition_variable> // std::condition_variable
#include <chrono>
std::mutex mtx;
std::condition_variable produce,consume;
int cargo = 0; // shared value by producers and consumers
void consumer () {
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lck(mtx);
while (cargo==0) consume.wait(lck);
std::cout << "Get" << cargo << " "<< std::this_thread::get_id() << '\n';
cargo--;
produce.notify_one();
}
void producer (int id) {
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lck(mtx);
while (cargo!=0) produce.wait(lck);
std::cout << "Push" << id << " "<< std::this_thread::get_id() << '\n';
cargo += id;
consume.notify_one();
}
void c () {
while(1) {
consumer();
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(1000));
}
}
void p(int n) {
while(1) {
producer(n);
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(1000));
}
}
int main ()
{
std::thread consumers[5],producers[5];
for (int i=0; i<5; ++i) {
consumers[i] = std::thread(c);
producers[i] = std::thread(p,i+1);
}
for (int i=0; i<5; ++i) {
producers[i].join();
consumers[i].join();
}
return 0;
}

Producer-Consumer: Lost Wake-up issue

I was trying to write code for Producer-Consumer problem. Below code works fine most of the time but stuck sometimes because of "Lost Wake-up" (i guess). I tried thread sleep() but it didn't work. What modification is needed to handle this case in my code? Is semaphore can be helpful here ? If yes, how will i implement them here ?
#include <boost/thread/thread.hpp>
#include <boost/thread/mutex.hpp>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int product = 0;
boost::mutex mutex;
boost::condition_variable cv;
boost::condition_variable pv;
bool done = false;
void consumer(){
while(done==false){
//cout << "start c" << endl
boost::mutex::scoped_lock lock(mutex);
cv.wait(lock);
//cout << "wakeup c" << endl;
if (done==false)
{
cout << product << endl;
//cout << "notify c" << endl;
pv.notify_one();
}
//cout << "end c" << endl;
}
}
void producer(){
for(int i=0;i<10;i++){
//cout << "start p" << endl;
boost::mutex::scoped_lock lock(mutex);
boost::this_thread::sleep(boost::posix_time::microseconds(50000));
++product;
//cout << "notify p" << endl;
cv.notify_one();
pv.wait(lock);
//cout << "wakeup p" << endl;
}
//cout << "end p" << endl;
cv.notify_one();
done = true;
}
int main()
{
int t = 1000;
while(t--){
/*
This is not perfect, and is prone to a subtle issue called the lost wakeup (for example, producer calls notify()
on the condition, but client hasn't really called wait() yet, then both will wait() indefinitely.)
*/
boost::thread consumerThread(&consumer);
boost::thread producerThread(&producer);
producerThread.join();
consumerThread.join();
done =false;
//cout << "process end" << endl;
}
cout << "done" << endl;
getchar();
return 0;
}
Yes, you want a way to know (in the consumer) that you "missed" a signal. A semaphore can help. There's more than one way to skin a cat, so here's my simple take on it (using just c++11 standard library features):
class semaphore
{
private:
std::mutex mtx;
std::condition_variable cv;
int count;
public:
semaphore(int count_ = 0) : count(count_) { }
void notify()
{
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lck(mtx);
++count;
cv.notify_one();
}
void wait() { return wait([]{}); } // no-op action
template <typename F>
auto wait(F&& func = []{}) -> decltype(std::declval<F>()())
{
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lck(mtx);
while(count == 0){
cv.wait(lck);
}
count--;
return func();
}
};
For convenience, I added a convenience wait() overload that takes a function to be executed under the lock. This makes it possible for the consumer to operate the 'semaphore' without ever manually operating the lock (and still get the value of product without data-races):
semaphore sem;
void consumer() {
do {
bool stop = false;
int received_product = sem.wait([&stop] { stop = done; return product; });
if (stop)
break;
std::cout << received_product << std::endl;
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(processed_mutex);
processed_signal.notify_one();
} while(true);
}
A fully working demo: Live on Coliru:
#include <condition_variable>
#include <iostream>
#include <mutex>
#include <thread>
#include <cassert>
class semaphore
{
private:
std::mutex mtx;
std::condition_variable cv;
int count;
public:
semaphore(int count_ = 0) : count(count_) { }
void notify()
{
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lck(mtx);
++count;
cv.notify_one();
}
void wait() { return wait([]{}); } // no-op action
template <typename F>
auto wait(F&& func = []{}) -> decltype(std::declval<F>()())
{
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lck(mtx);
while(count == 0){
cv.wait(lck);
}
count--;
return func();
}
};
semaphore sem;
int product = 0;
std::mutex processed_mutex;
std::condition_variable processed_signal;
bool done = false;
void consumer(int check) {
do {
bool stop = false;
int received_product = sem.wait([&stop] { stop = done; return product; });
if (stop)
break;
std::cout << received_product << std::endl;
assert(++check == received_product);
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(processed_mutex);
processed_signal.notify_one();
} while(true);
}
void producer() {
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(processed_mutex);
for(int i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
++product;
sem.notify();
processed_signal.wait(lock);
}
done = true;
sem.notify();
}
int main() {
int t = 1000;
while(t--) {
std::thread consumerThread(&consumer, product);
std::thread producerThread(&producer);
producerThread.join();
consumerThread.join();
done = false;
std::cout << "process end" << std::endl;
}
std::cout << "done" << std::endl;
}
You seems to ignore that the variable done is also a shared state, to the same extend as product. Which can lead to several races conditions. In your case, I see at least one scenario where consumerThread make no progress:
The loop execute has intended
consumer executes, and is waiting at cv.wait(lock);
producer has finished the for loop, and notify consumer and is preempted
consumer wakes up, read "done==false", output product, read done == false again, wait on the condition
producer set done to true and exit
consumer is stuck forever
To avoid these kind of issues you should be holding a lock when reading or writing done. Btw your implementation is quite sequential, ie the producer and the consumer can only process a single piece of data at the time...