What are the differences between stdatomic and mutex in C++?

What are the differences between stdatomic and mutex in C++?

The main difference is that stdatomic provides atomic operations without locking, while mutex provides mutual exclusion.

When should I use stdatomic instead of mutex?

Use stdatomic for simple shared data access where you need atomicity without the overhead of locking. It's faster!

Are there any scenarios where mutex is preferred?

Yes, use mutex when you need to protect complex data structures or when multiple threads need to perform multiple operations atomically.

Can you give an example of using stdatomic?

Sure! You can use std::atomic<int> to safely increment a counter from multiple threads without locks.

What about performance differences between the two?

Generally, stdatomic is faster due to less overhead, but mutex can be more efficient for complex operations.