RE: [Boost-users] boost thread tutorial?

Matthias Kaeppler wrote:

Howdy,

I'm planning to use Boost.Thread in my program to utilize concurrency. I already had a closer look at the documentation and I noticed that it's lacking most parts for which I would consult a documentation in the first place:

1. API reference

I agree the documentation of Boost.Thread might be a little difficult to navigate. Personally I preferred the documentation in 1_31_0 much better but everything is there, you just have to search... API reference: Go to http://www.boost.org/doc/html/threads.html and see the "Reference" section. For example, clicking on the "Header " link will take you to that file's documentation from where you can go to the documentation of any class or function in that file (class thread and thread_group in this case). For example if you click on the "class thread" link you end up at http://www.boost.org/doc/html/thread.html which contains the full API reference of the class boost::thread.

2. A user guide showing how to use Boost.Thread in practical examples

Most boost libraries come with examples and even the ones that don't come with tests (which in a way are examples of usage). For Boost.Thread go to your boost installation and look inside libs/thread/example. There is also a libs/thread/tutorial directory full of goodies. The documentation page also provides examples. The "Concepts" page tells you how to use boost::mutex and locks. The "Rationale" section the same.

The only code examples I spotted were pseudo-code which were pretty meaningless to me.

For example:

void foo() { create_thread(&bar); }

What is create_thread? Which arguments does it take? What is bar?

This is not precisely pseudo-code but some parts have been omitted. I believe the purpose of that code is to illustrate use patterns. create_thread is a method of thread_group which you use to create a thread and bar is a functor for your thread proc.

I know I can't demand anything from the author since it's free software, but... this is simply not very helpful. So, does anyone know a good source with examples and maybe even an API reference of Boost.Thread?

Hope that helps. -delfin