Wednesday, July 25, 2007

boost::thread and boost::mutex tutorial

For most Boost's libraries its documentation requires you to read everything from the start to the end before you can write any code. Compare that with most of CPAN modules where usually you can start using CPAN module after quickly scanning synopsis and maybe description parts of it's POD documentation. POD documentation as a rule has good examples right on top of the page. Boost's documentation usually doesn't.

So I was looking for basic usage examples for boost::thread and boost::mutex classes and initially I couldn't find any because I was using wrong search keywords. In the end I figured out how to use boost::thread and boost::mutex classes in my application hard way by reading Boost documentation without relying on any examples. But afterwards I did find a very good article on this topic with many simple examples: The Boost.Threads Library on Dr.Dobb's. So I'm posting this link here for google. It is in top 10 hits for some relevant keywords but it is not for others (for example for boost thread mutex tutorial) and this is why I missed it initially. If my blog post helps any Boost.Threads newbie to get started then I would consider time spent writing this post to be not wasted.
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57 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2007 at 12:55 PM

    Thanks.

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  2. UnknownSeptember 21, 2007 at 9:17 PM

    Not wasted at all! Ta!

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  3. UnknownOctober 1, 2007 at 4:28 AM

    Thanks, your time was definitely not wasted and in fact has helped save time for at least one poor sap working his way through the Boost.Thread documentation.

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  4. MortocOctober 7, 2007 at 1:20 AM

    Thanks! This page served its purpose perfectly for me.

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  5. AnonymousJanuary 16, 2008 at 4:38 PM

    Thanks! Wasnt a waste of time.

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  6. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2008 at 6:18 PM

    Thanks :)

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  7. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2008 at 6:29 PM

    Looks like you might have helped me a lot there too mate. Thanks a lot :D

    ReplyDelete
  8. RobinFebruary 20, 2008 at 7:59 PM

    Thanks !

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  9. AnonymousMarch 17, 2008 at 5:58 AM

    Thanks! I had been searching for stuff on C++ threads and hadn't found a good article or tutorial on them until I typed in "C++ threads boost tutorial" and got your page and followed the link.

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  10. AnonymousJune 25, 2008 at 11:09 PM

    Thanks! not wasted time ;)

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  11. VisionistJuly 4, 2008 at 12:10 AM

    Thanks! This is a good place to drop by when searching for Boost.Thread tutorial.

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousAugust 22, 2008 at 9:28 PM

    Thank you very much. Your link is very useful:)

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  13. nanaSeptember 10, 2008 at 1:24 PM

    Thanks a lot for your link though the article seems a bit obsolete now.

    I also found a good article here:
    http://blog.emptycrate.com/node/277

    Cheers

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  14. AnonymousSeptember 21, 2008 at 3:58 PM

    Thanks. This was exactly what I was looking for.

    Pitty the Boost.org people can't write examples on their own. ;o)

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  15. AnonymousOctober 2, 2008 at 9:28 PM

    Thanks alot

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  16. AnonymousNovember 24, 2008 at 3:23 PM

    I got the same feeling with you while looking for a pratical, handy guide of boost thread, now I found this tutorial. So, thanks.

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  17. Fat64December 2, 2008 at 1:16 AM

    Another thanks :D

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  18. Joseph KogutJanuary 9, 2009 at 12:34 AM

    Thanks for the tutorial. Something human readable, win!

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  19. AnonymousJanuary 10, 2009 at 4:01 AM

    Thank you very much.

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  20. kroizJanuary 10, 2009 at 4:38 PM

    Me too. (-:
    Thanks a lot.

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  21. AnonymousFebruary 8, 2009 at 3:22 AM

    Thanks for this! Definitely quite understandable. There's another quite good tutorial here:

    http://paulbridger.net/multithreading_tutorial

    The problem with that one is that there're no COMPLETE examples - however, it does explain the concepts more thoroughly. :)

    Also, be sure to check out the "What's new in Boost Threads by Dr.Dobb's:
    http://www.ddj.com/cpp/211600441

    Haven't read it yet, but apparently there's stuff about a newer version of the library.

    Happy coding people! :)

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  22. UnknownFebruary 20, 2009 at 12:25 AM

    thanks ... i feel ya ... i like to learn thru examples

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  23. AnonymousFebruary 24, 2009 at 2:31 AM

    Thank you!!

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  24. AnonymousMarch 20, 2009 at 2:52 PM

    Thanks mate, another quick piece of info on using Boost threads on a class is: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=5392618&postcount=4

    explains how to use to make a class similar to if you inherit from Thread in Java.

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  25. AnonymousMarch 20, 2009 at 4:11 PM

    Thanks for the link. I was going cross-eyed reading the Boost::Thread docs and it turns out I only needed two extra lines in my code. :^)

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  26. Viewer of MediaMarch 30, 2009 at 10:58 PM

    It's still the gift that keeps giving.
    And btw, if any readers are C++ newbs like me, and have trouble with the example code, the keys to learn are "Initialization Lists"
    http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/initialization-lists-c++.html
    and "functors" or "Thread Functors"
    http://developer.vrjuggler.org/docs/vapor/2.0/programmer.guide/programmer.guide/ch05s02.html

    ReplyDelete
  27. MiserApril 21, 2009 at 7:10 AM

    Thanks a lot !

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  28. AnonymousJuly 7, 2009 at 7:59 PM

    thanks!!

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  29. John KJuly 10, 2009 at 5:26 PM

    Whoever is responsible for the Boost threads documentation should be ashamed that this blog is the number one hit for boost thread tutorial, and there is nothing on the web for it from boost itself... But thank you blogger!

    ReplyDelete
  30. UnknownJuly 17, 2009 at 1:01 PM

    Thank you !

    ReplyDelete
  31. AnonymousJuly 30, 2009 at 8:42 PM

    Thanks! when i searched today you were the number 1 google hit for "boost thread tutorial"

    ReplyDelete
  32. Good TimesOctober 5, 2009 at 11:23 PM

    thanks, you pointed out something i've been frustrated by with boost documentation for years and you pointed to the same example i had in mind, CPAN/POD

    ReplyDelete
  33. AnonymousOctober 25, 2009 at 12:54 AM

    thanks :p
    It looks like google like your article it's was my 3rd result !

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  34. Mark ChadwickJanuary 10, 2010 at 12:37 AM

    Still working after 2.5 years! Thanks Ilya!

    ReplyDelete
  35. AnonymousMarch 1, 2010 at 7:04 PM

    Many thanks
    this is exactly what I am looking for!

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  36. AnonymousMarch 30, 2010 at 3:15 AM

    youuuuuuuu rock. made my search quite easy

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  37. LuizApril 19, 2010 at 9:39 PM

    yeah it helped! I never write comments on blog posts, but this one deserves it! Thanks!

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  38. UnknownApril 27, 2010 at 8:12 PM

    Still not wasted! :)

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  39. GeorgeJune 9, 2010 at 4:04 AM

    thanks!

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  40. GaborAugust 17, 2010 at 3:13 PM

    Thank you very much, i found this post via google, so it was worth (IMO).
    cheers

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  41. DolanAugust 18, 2010 at 9:05 PM

    Thanks a lot. Saved me hours of time reading docs.

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  42. AnonymousAugust 21, 2010 at 10:10 PM

    Thanks :-)

    ReplyDelete
  43. AnonymousNovember 4, 2010 at 12:44 PM

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  44. AnonymousDecember 22, 2010 at 5:24 PM

    Still paying off. Thanks!

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  45. AnonymousJanuary 3, 2011 at 10:10 PM

    Good stuff mate, and thankyou very much for the Dr Dobbs link. That is exactly what I was looking for.

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  46. GavinFebruary 23, 2011 at 8:06 AM

    +1, your idea worked. Came from Google.

    ReplyDelete
  47. AnonymousMay 5, 2011 at 11:21 AM

    Thanks a lot, still working!!

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  48. AnonymousJune 16, 2011 at 9:54 AM

    As everyone else says - thanks! :P

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  49. AnonymousJuly 14, 2011 at 1:34 PM

    Thank you, I was really strugling using the Win32 API for multi-threading but now I use boost which is so much easier once you read the documentation!

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  50. AnonymousAugust 10, 2011 at 11:36 PM

    thanks

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  51. MIlan GavrovicOctober 17, 2011 at 1:24 PM

    Still kickin; !!!
    Good work Sir!

    ReplyDelete
  52. NilsJanuary 19, 2012 at 11:06 PM

    Thanks bro!

    ReplyDelete
  53. AnonymousJanuary 20, 2012 at 9:17 PM

    Usefull post ... thanks man!

    ReplyDelete
  54. AnonymousMarch 1, 2012 at 11:01 AM

    March 2012 and still useful.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  55. AndréJuly 26, 2012 at 10:07 PM

    July/2012...

    ... and still usefull.

    ReplyDelete
  56. IvanAugust 3, 2012 at 9:49 PM

    Great! Thank you :-)

    ReplyDelete
  57. AnonymousNovember 24, 2013 at 8:14 PM

    6 years after... thanks ;)

    ReplyDelete