Abstract Thread library

From: frank.gerlach_at_[hidden]
Date: 2000-08-08 09:25:47

I worked at two companies who each have their own threading library, 
comprising 
-thread creation/destruction
-thread specific storage
-mutexes
-condition variables

This allows for OS-independent coding (mainly pthreads and Win32 
threads) of server systems. 
Also, it allows for "actively" thread-safe libraries.

I think that the pthread lib is a good starting point for the design 
of such a library, if you look for concepts and don't get irritated 
by the details (scheduling, priorities, processor binding, recursive 
mutexes etc.)

Some more detailed remarks:
-Mutexes *cannot* emulate counting semaphores; Mutexes+condition 
variables can

-Counting Semaphores can be useful to manage a (fixed) pool of 
resources like a pool of database connections.