What causes spurious wakeups in C programming?

What causes spurious wakeups in C programming?

Spurious wakeups occur when a thread wakes up from a wait state without an explicit signal. This can happen due to various reasons, including system interrupts or scheduling issues.

How can I handle spurious wakeups in my code?

To handle spurious wakeups, you should always use a loop to check the condition after waking up. This ensures that your thread only proceeds when the condition is actually met.

Can you give me an example of handling spurious wakeups?

Sure! Here's a simple example:

while (condition_not_met) {
    pthread_cond_wait(&cond, &mutex);
}

This loop checks the condition after each wakeup.

Are there any performance implications of handling spurious wakeups?

Yes, while handling spurious wakeups adds some overhead due to the additional checks, it is necessary for ensuring correctness in concurrent programming.