Scribd
Upload
4 views4 pages

Thread Management in C with Pthreads

This document outlines a lab focused on creating and managing threads in C using the pthread library. It covers objectives such as sharing data safely, observing race conditions, and measuring performance differences between single-threaded and multi-threaded code. The lab includes practical tasks involving thread creation, array summation, and addressing race conditions with mutexes.

Uploaded by

rm1844058
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
4 views4 pages

Thread Management in C with Pthreads

This document outlines a lab focused on creating and managing threads in C using the pthread library. It covers objectives such as sharing data safely, observing race conditions, and measuring performance differences between single-threaded and multi-threaded code. The lab includes practical tasks involving thread creation, array summation, and addressing race conditions with mutexes.

Uploaded by

rm1844058
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Operating System Lab – Thread Examples

1. Objectives
By the end of this lab, you should be able to:

1. Create and manage multiple threads in C using the pthread library.

2. Share data between threads safely.

3. Observe race conditions.

4. Measure performance differences between single-threaded and multi-threaded code.

2. Theory Overview
A thread is a lightweight unit of execution within a process. Threads share address space, open files, and
global variables with other threads of the same process.

Why threads?

- Enable parallelism on multi-core CPUs

- Improve responsiveness

- More efficient for certain workloads

Common POSIX Thread (pthreads) API:

- pthread_create

- pthread_join

- pthread_mutex_t

- pthread_mutex_lock / pthread_mutex_unlock

Compile using:

gcc -pthread file.c -o program

1
3. Part A – Simple Thread Creation
Task A1: Hello from Threads

Example Code:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <stdlib.h>

#include <pthread.h>

void* print_message(void* arg) {

char* text = (char*)arg;

printf("Thread says: %s\n", text);

return NULL;

int main() {

pthread_t t1, t2;

pthread_create(&t1, NULL, print_message, "Hello from thread 1");

pthread_create(&t2, NULL, print_message, "Hello from thread 2");

pthread_join(t1, NULL);

pthread_join(t2, NULL);

printf("Main thread finished.\n");

return 0;

Tasks:

1. Compile and run.

2. Observe output order.

3. Explain why thread order changes.

2
4. Part B – Array Sum (Single-threaded & Multi-threaded)
Task B1: Single-threaded Sum

Example Code:

long long single_thread_sum(int* arr, long long n) {

long long sum = 0;

for (long long i = 0; i < n; i++) {

sum += arr[i];

return sum;

Task B2: Multi-threaded Sum

Uses multiple pthreads to compute partial sums and combine them.

Compare:

- Runtime for 1, 2, 4, 8 threads

- Performance vs. single-threaded version

5. Part C – Race Condition Example


Task C1: Incrementing a shared counter without mutex

Example:

long long counter = 0;

void* increment(void* arg) {

for (int i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {

counter++; // race condition

Run multiple times and observe incorrect results.

3
6. Part D – Fixing Race Condition with Mutex
Use pthread_mutex_t to protect counter++:

pthread_mutex_t lock = PTHREAD_MUTEX_INITIALIZER;

pthread_mutex_lock(&lock);

counter++;

pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock);

You might also like