Introduction to Multithreading in C++ with std::thread
In modern software development, multithreading is a crucial concept for building efficient and responsive applications. C++11 introduced the std::thread class as part of the Standard Library, making it easier to create and manage threads without relying on platform-specific APIs. This blog post will introduce you to the basics of using std::thread in C++, including creating threads, passing arguments, and synchronizing threads.
What is a Thread?
A thread is a lightweight unit of a process that can run concurrently with other threads, sharing the same memory space. Threads are commonly used to perform tasks that can be executed in parallel, such as handling user input while processing data in the background.
Creating Threads with std::thread
The std::thread class represents a single thread of execution. You can create a thread by instantiating an std::thread object and passing a callableobject (a function pointer, lambda expression, or functor) to its constructor.
Here’s a simple example to demonstrate creating a thread in C++:
In this example, we define a function printMessage() that prints a message to the console. We then create a thread t that executes this function. The t.join() call ensures that the main thread waits for the thread t to finish its execution before continuing.