Module 6.1.1 - Producer-Consumer Problem

Vocabulary flashcards covering the producer-consumer problem, work decomposition methods, and Pthread condition variable synchronization.

Data decomposition

A work-dividing strategy where different threads/processes execute the same function on different data.

Task decomposition

A work-dividing strategy where different threads/processes execute different functions.

Data-flow decomposition

A configuration where one thread executes a function to produce output data, while another thread executes a different function to consume that data.

Producer thread/process

An entity that produces data items and places them into a shared buffer.

Consumer thread/process

An entity that removes data items from a shared buffer to consume them.

Bounded buffer problem

Another name for the producer-consumer problem, which requires maintaining buffer consistency without busy waiting.

$$pthread\_cond\_t$$

The data type used for a condition variable in the Pthread library.

$$PTHREAD\_COND\_INITIALIZER$$

The macro used to initialize a condition variable with default attributes.

$$pthread\_cond\_wait()$$

A function that takes the address of a condition variable and the address of a mutex variable to allow a thread to sleep until a condition is met.

$$pthread\_cond\_signal()$$

A function that takes the address of a condition variable to wake up a thread waiting on that condition.

$$not\_empty$$

A condition variable name typically used to reflect that the buffer contains at least one item for the consumer.

$$not\_full$$

A condition variable name typically used to reflect that the buffer has at least one empty space for the producer.

$$N$$

The buffer capacity, which is defined as $10$ in the sample code provided.

$$count$$

A shared variable used to keep track of the number of items currently in the buffer.

$$pthread\_mutex\_t$$

The data type for a mutex variable used for synchronization based on the state or value of shared data.