Question

I am trying to create a simple semaphore that will allow only 1 thread to increment a count variable but what I am currently doing does not seem to work. Is there something wrong with my syntax or am I completely on the wrong track? (I named the semaphore mutex, because it can only have a value of 0 or 1)

WaitForSingleObject(mutex, 0);
count = count + 1;
ReleaseSemaphore(mutex, 1, NULL);

Answer 1

From the MSDN page, with emphasis added:

DWORD WINAPI WaitForSingleObject(
    __in  HANDLE hHandle,
    __in  DWORD dwMilliseconds
);

dwMilliseconds [in]
The time-out interval, in milliseconds. If a nonzero value is specified, the function waits until the object is signaled or the interval elapses. If dwMilliseconds is zero, the function does not enter a wait state if the object is not signaled; it always returns immediately. If dwMilliseconds is INFINITE, the function will return only when the object is signaled.