c++ thread class conundrum

[wetelectric]

Im designing a program in c++ and im wondering the best way to implement its threading aspecs. Ive narrowed it down to three choices:

1. using pThread (this is a c library so not sure how that would work. Shouldnt be to difficult to do). It's also POSIX... ummm?

2. Boost libs. - not sure whether this will port. Also gotta think about distribution. But it does look 'nice'.

void hello_world() {

  cout << "Hello world, I'm a thread!" << endl;

}



int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {

  // start a new thread that calls the "hello_world" function

  boost::thread my_thread(&hello_world);

  // wait for the thread to finish

  my_thread.join();

3. design my own thread class: This was taken from an old site. It's a bit basic but meh, opensource and that

class Thread

{

   public:

      Thread();

      int Start(void * arg);

   protected:

      int Run(void * arg);

      static void * EntryPoint(void*);

      virtual void Setup();

      virtual void Execute(void*);

      void * Arg() const {return Arg_;}

      void Arg(void*){Arg_ = a;}

   private:

      THREADID ThreadId_;

      void * Arg_;



};



Thread::Thread() {}



int Thread::Start(void * arg)

{

   Arg(arg); // store user data

   int code = thread_create(Thread::EntryPoint, this, &ThreadId_);

   return code;

}



int Thread::Run(void * arg)

{

   Setup();

   Execute( arg );

}



/*static */

void * Thread::EntryPoint(void * pthis)

{

   Thread * pt = (Thread*)pthis;

   pthis->Run( Arg() );

}



virtual void Thread::Setup()

{

        // Do any setup here

}



virtual void Thread::Execute(void* arg)

{

        // Your code goes here

}

Basically i'd like to know your experiences of implementing threads in c++, what worked for you?

cheers

[nickisgod1]

pthreads all the way. i have used it with c++ and experienced no problems. besides why build your own. pthreads is posix, and will be available on most *nix os you need to compile on, and you are complying with standards

[cooper]

I personally like the cleanliness of POSIX threads. Very standard stuff, and I once wrote a little computing client program that would compile and run on a pretty diverse set of systems (mac, HPPA, Sparc, the various x86 OSes) without code changes or #ifdefs in it.

I mean, look at it. What could be simpler than:

#include <sys/types.h>

#include <unistd.h>

...

pid_t pid = fork();

if (pid < 0) {

    // Error

} else if (pid > 0) {

    // Parent. pid = child pid.

} else {

    // Child.

}

[wetelectric]

mmm pthread does seem to be the one most people use.... but im worried about mixing C stuff with c++ code. Because one has to use malloc/free for the c and new/delete for c++. It can get to be a headache. To be honest i am leaning towards using the Boost libs. A lot of them are going to be included in the c++ update (yes in the next 100yrs c++ will have standard regExp support! ) anyways.... although ive heard some threading gurus are not liking the boost thread implementation.

mmm i'll be writing the code in such a way that it is easy to implement both and see which ones best anyways... i'll give the svn thing a test in a month or so then u can see

thanks guys

[jool]

Definitely go for pthreads, they can do everything a thread should be able to do and mixing c and c++ isn't that uncommon or horrible. Except of course if you are doing something inside windows where things get a lot more complicated. Just make sure to properly wrap away all the nasty c functions inside your class and do it in a nice object oriented fashion. Personally I like to mimic the thread class from Java in functionality and how you use it.