Mastering C++ Multithreading

Key Features

• Delve into the fundamentals of multithreading and concurrency and find out how to implement them
• Explore atomic operations to optimize code performance
• Apply concurrency to both distributed computing and GPGPU processing

Book Description

Multithreaded applications execute multiple threads in a single processor environment, allowing developers achieve concurrency. This book will teach you the finer points of multithreading and concurrency concepts and how to apply them efficiently in C++.

Divided into three modules, we start with a brief introduction to the fundamentals of multithreading and concurrency concepts. We then take an in-depth look at how these concepts work at the hardware-level as well as how both operating systems and frameworks use these low-level functions.

In the next module, you will learn about the native multithreading and concurrency support available in C++ since the 2011 revision, synchronization and communication between threads, debugging concurrent C++ applications, and the best programming practices in C++.

In the final module, you will learn about atomic operations before moving on to apply concurrency to distributed and GPGPU-based processing. The comprehensive coverage of essential multithreading concepts means you will be able to efficiently apply multithreading concepts while coding in C++.

What you will learn

• Deep dive into the details of the how various operating systems currently implement multithreading
• Choose the best multithreading APIs when designing a new application
• Explore the use of mutexes, spin-locks, and other synchronization concepts and see how to safely pass data between threads
• Understand the level of API support provided by various C++ toolchains
• Resolve common issues in multithreaded code and recognize common pitfalls using tools such as Memcheck, CacheGrind, DRD, Helgrind, and more
• Discover the nature of atomic operations and understand how they can be useful in optimizing code
• Implement a multithreaded application in a distributed computing environment
• Design a C++-based GPGPU application that employs multithreading

About the Author

Maya Posch is a software engineer by trade and a self-professed electronics, robotics, and AI nut, running her own software development company, Nyanko, with her good friend, Trevor Purdy, where she works on various game development projects and some non-game projects. Apart from this, she does various freelance jobs for companies around the globe. You can visit her LinkedIn profile for more work-related details.

Aside from writing software, she likes to play with equations and write novels, such as her awesome reimagining of the story of the Nintendo classic, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and the survival-horror novel she recently started, Viral Desire. You can check out her Scribd profile for a full listing of her writings.

Maya is also interested in biochemistry, robotics, and reverse-engineering of the human body. To know more about her, visit her blog, Artificial Human. If there's anything she doesn't lack, it has to be sheer ambition, it seems.

Table of Contents

1. Revisiting multithreading
2. Multithreading implementation on the processor and OS
3. C++ Multithreading APIs
4. Thread synchronization and communication
5. Native C++ threads and primitives
6. Debugging multi-threaded code
7. Best Practices
8. Atomic operations: working with the hardware
9. Multithreading with distributed computing
10. Multithreading with GPGPU