Using more than 1 thread in C beginner question.

[Uri Blass]

I have no experience in parallel search and never learned about using it in C.

What are the commands to use parallel search in C?

Can I get an example to some simple C program that use parallel search
to do some computations in the same time(It does not have to be a chess program).

For example a program that calculate the sum of the numbers in a big array faster.

[cdani]

I use only this instruction for Andscacs. All the other things are communication through variables.

Code: Select all

_beginthread(proces_thread, 0, (void*)&rootparam.numthread[i]);

void proces_thread(void *param) {
	int *threadnum= (int*)param;
...

[mar]

If your compiler supports OpenMP, you can start with

Code: Select all

#pragma omp parallel for
for(...) {
}

(assuming each iteration takes roughly same time)

[bob]

I have no experience in parallel search and never learned about using it in C.

What are the commands to use parallel search in C?

Can I get an example to some simple C program that use parallel search
to do some computations in the same time(It does not have to be a chess program).

For example a program that calculate the sum of the numbers in a big array faster.

Here is a simple idea using posix threads in Linux:

main program:
int global_sum = 0;
pthread_create(process1, sumarray, 0);
pthread_create(process2, sumarray, 1);
pthread_join(process1);
pthread_join(process2);

done...

int sumarray(my_id) {
int i, start, end, sum = 0;
start = size_of_array * my_id / 2;
end = start + size_of_array / 2;
for (i = start; i < end; i++)
sum += array;
lock(sum_lock)
global_sum += sum;
unlock(sum_lock);
return 0;
}

That is sort of the idea in pseudo-code that resembles C.

pthread_create creates a new process and provides you with an id that you can then use to wait for that process to complete (pthread_join does this). The sumarray program just sums 1/2 of the array, where thread zero goes 0 to size / 2, thread one goes size / 2 to size. Then, at the end, you acquire a lock so that both threads don't try to update global_sum at the same time, then add the partial sum to that...

Hope that helps...

[Uri Blass]

Thanks for all the replies

[lucasart]

I have no experience in parallel search and never learned about using it in C.

What are the commands to use parallel search in C?

Can I get an example to some simple C program that use parallel search
to do some computations in the same time(It does not have to be a chess program).

For example a program that calculate the sum of the numbers in a big array faster.

C99 (or previous) has no support for multi threading. You need to do everything yourself by calling the relevant OS API. And you need to handle POSIX threads or Windows threads differently, of course...

C11 has thread support, just like C++11. However, C11 threads only exist on paper. In reality, not even glibc support C11 threads. So you're back to square one...

[abulmo]

C11 has thread support, just like C++11. However, C11 threads only exist on paper. In reality, not even glibc support C11 threads. So you're back to square one...

Under linux, at least one libc claims to support c11 threads:
http://www.musl-libc.org/

Under windows some 3rd parties may provide support to C11 threads, (pelle C ?, ...), but I have not tested them (I do not use ms windows anymore).

IMHO, the easiest way to have a portable threading support in C is to use Posix threads. It is native under Linux, works under windows with the pthread library add-on. It also mostly works natively under Apple OS X.