What are the differences between reentrant and thread-safe functions?

What are the differences between reentrant and thread-safe functions?

Reentrant functions can be interrupted and safely called again before the previous execution is complete, while thread-safe functions are designed to be safely called by multiple threads simultaneously.

Can you give an example of a reentrant function?

Sure! A classic example of a reentrant function is the strtok_r function in C, which tokenizes a string without using static variables.

What about thread-safe functions? Any examples?

An example of a thread-safe function is the pthread_mutex_lock function, which ensures that only one thread can access a resource at a time.

How do I ensure my function is thread-safe?

You can ensure thread safety by using synchronization mechanisms like mutexes, semaphores, or by avoiding shared state.