You should always unlock a mutex that you've locked as soon as safely possible (to increase performance). And you should never unlock a mutex that you don't hold a lock for

"dead list" that contains all stopped threads and then have a special cleanup thread that simply waits for an item to be added to the list. The cleanup thread calls pthread_join() to merge it with itself. Now your entire cleanup will be handled neatly and efficiently in a single thread.

mutexes are used to serialize access to *shared data*. Don't use them for non-shared data, and don't use them if your program's logic ensures that only one thread is accessing a particular data structure at a single time.

if you are using shared data, use mutexes for both reading and writing. Surround your read and write sections with pthread_mutex_lock() and pthread_mutex_unlock(), or use them any time a program's invariant is temporarily broken.

pthread_mutex_destroy() does not free the memory used to store the pthread_mutex_t. It's up to you to free() your own memory. Also remember that both pthread_mutex_init() and pthread_mutex_destroy() return zero on success.

pthread_mutex_lock() accepts a single pointer to a mutex to lock. If the mutex already happens to be locked, the caller will go to sleep. When the function returns, the caller will be woken up (obviously), and the caller will also now hold the lock. This call either returns zero on success.

When you call pthread_mutex_trylock() you'll attempt to lock the mutex. If the mutex is currently unlocked you'll get the lock, and this function will return zero. However, if the mutex is locked this call won't block. Rather, it will return a non-zero EBUSY error value.

pthread_cond_wait() simultaneously unlock the mutex (so that other threads can modify the linked list) and wait on the condition (so that pthread_cond_wait() will wake up when it is "signalled" by another thread). Now that the mutex is unlocked, other threads can access and modify the linked list, possibly adding items

pthread_cond_wait() call has not yet returned. Unlocking the mutex happens immediately, but waiting on the condition mycond is normally a blocking operation, meaning that our thread will go to sleep, consuming no CPU cycles until it is woken up.

This is exactly what we want to happen. Our thread is sleeping, waiting for a particular condition to become true, without performing any kind of busy polling that would waste CPU time. From our thread's perspective, it's simply waiting for the pthread_cond_wait() call to return.

Immediately after unlocking the mutex, thread 2 calls the function pthread_cond_broadcast(&mycond). By doing so, thread 2 will cause all threads waiting on the mycond condition variable to immediately wake up. This means that our first thread (which is in the middle of a pthread_cond_wait() call) will now wake up.

After thread 2 called pthread_cond_broadcast(&mymutex) you might think that thread 1's pthread_cond_wait() will immediately return. Not so! Instead, pthread_cond_wait() will perform one last operation: relock mymutex. Once pthread_cond_wait() has the lock, it will then return and allow thread 1 to continue execution.

Just because you can have a baby, it doesn't mean you should. Especially without planning for one or getting married first.

I have seven uncles, and my dad played bass, they had a band together, that was the family band. And of course as the cousins got older, including myself, we joined a family band. All the cousins played. That's my heritage.

It doesn't matter if they're in front of the camera or behind the camera. I know women who are producers who are surviving on nothing but juice and almonds.

Blogs are evil. Actually, the blogs aren't as evil as blog comments.

After watching 'Peepshow,' people always say to me that it was more than what they expected. It is so much more than a musical. It has a lot of energy and is fast-paced. You are entertained the whole time watching it. One guy from Germany watched 'Peepshow' every single day for the whole week he was in Vegas.

But I feel that I have a responsibility to help the film and I have relations with the studio and with those who put up the money so that I can tell a story that I believe in.

We as Republicans have taken the easy way out a lot of times.

We all got up to dance. Oh but we never got the chance

With self-discipline most anything is possible.

Back in eighth grade, I'd seen nothing but small-town Georgia when I left the U.S. for the first time and went to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China.

The world was hers for the reading.

Wherever my story takes me, however dark and difficult the theme, there is always some hope and redemption, not because readers like happy endings, but because I am an optimist at heart. I know the sun will rise in the morning, that there is a light at the end of every tunnel.

If you don't define the problem you'll never reach a painful solution.

I get to meet a lot of people, and I really like people.

Leave the door open for the unknown the door into the dark. Thats where the most important things come from where you yourself came from and where you will go.

My government will be open. Anyone found guilty of corruption will be dealt with in accordance with the law. If you are corrupt you will have to hang your boots.

My first commercial was for Miller High Life beer.

The biggest adventure is to move into an area in which you are not an expert. Sometimes I joke that I am not interested in doing re-search, only search.

I think women love very hard. We love men. We just love with everything we have. And sometimes, I don't know that that love is met with the type of dignity that we wish it would be met with.

I guess in the independent market, I'd be getting offers, but in terms of big studio films, I still have to audition. I don't think my name is that well-known, I don't have much of a following to guarantee box office success yet.

I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.

There are rich people everywhere, and yet they don't contribute to the growth of their countries.

My view of an excellent novel was probably set in the golden age of fiction in the 19th century: narrative, character and voice are of equal importance.

You can shave my head if you need to; it doesn't bother me.