Question

I created a simple program that uses condition variables to create synchronization between two threads. I’m getting a strange output that I cannot seem to find the solution to.

What the program does is, in the generator thread, produces 1000 random integers and checks to see if they are perfect squares. If the number is a perfect square then it signals the monitor thread which prints the square root of the number.

The problem I am having is most likely some sort of race condition, because the monitor simply isn’t printing out the square root when the generator signals.

The strange part is that when I debug in gdb b stepping through each time the variable is_square changes, the problem is nonexistent.

Any insight would appreciated. I feel it has to do with my mutex or placement of conditions.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include <time.h>

int square_root;
int is_square = 0;
int done = 0;
int count = 0; //used to count how many perfect squares generator_func finds
int count1 = 0; //used to compare how many responses monitor makes to signal
pthread_mutex_t mutex;
pthread_cond_t mon;


void* generator_func(void* args){
  srand(time(NULL)); 
  int i, temp, sq;
  for(i = 0; i<1000; i++){
    temp = rand() % 10000;
    sq = sqrt((double)temp);
    if((pow(sq,2)) == temp){
      pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex);
      count++;
      square_root = sq;
      is_square = 1;
      fprintf(stderr, "Square root of %d is", temp);
      pthread_cond_signal(&mon);
      pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex);
    } 
  }
  pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex);
  done = 1;
  is_square = -1;
  pthread_cond_signal(&mon);
  pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex);
}


main(){
  pthread_t generator; //declare thread

  pthread_mutex_init(&mutex, NULL); //initialize mutex
  pthread_cond_init(&mon, NULL); //initialize condition variable


  pthread_create(&generator, NULL, generator_func, NULL); //create thread

  //monitor
  while(done != 1){
    pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex);
    while(is_square == 0){
      pthread_cond_wait(&mon, &mutex);
    }
    if(is_square == 1 && done != 1){
      count1++;
      fprintf(stderr, " %d\n", square_root);
      is_square = 0;
    }
    pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex);
  }

  pthread_join(generator, NULL);

  printf("%d %d\n", count, count1); //shows inconsistency between generator and monitor
  pthread_mutex_destroy(&mutex);
  pthread_cond_destroy(&mon);
} 

Answer 1

All,
I have solved this problem very, very easily. I am embarrassed for not catching this sooner, but I took a break from this code for a while. The solution is so trivial. All that was needed was an extra condition variable that the generator waits on until the monitor is finished. Here is the code.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include <time.h>

int square_root;
volatile int is_square = 0;
int done = 0;
int count = 0; //used to count how many perfect squares generator_func finds
int count1 = 0; //used to compare how many responses monitor makes to signal
pthread_mutex_t mutex;
pthread_cond_t mon, gen;


void* generator_func(void* args){
  srand(time(NULL)); 
  int i, temp, sq;
  for(i = 0; i<1000; i++){
    temp = rand() % 10000;
    sq = sqrt((double)temp);
    if((pow(sq,2)) == temp){
      pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex);
      count++;
      square_root = sq;
      is_square = 1;
      fprintf(stderr, "Square root of %d is", temp);
      pthread_cond_signal(&mon); //signal monitor
      pthread_cond_wait(&gen, &mutex); //wait for monitor to finish *Solution*
      pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex);
    } 
  }
  pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex);
  done = 1;
  is_square = -1;
  pthread_cond_signal(&mon);
  pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex);
}


main(){
  pthread_t generator; //declare thread

  pthread_mutex_init(&mutex, NULL); //initialize mutex
  pthread_cond_init(&mon, NULL); //initialize condition var for monitor
  pthread_cond_init(&gen, NULL); //initialize condition var for generator

  pthread_create(&generator, NULL, generator_func, NULL); //create thread

  //monitor
  pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex);
  while(done != 1 || is_square == 1){
    while(is_square == 0){
      pthread_cond_wait(&mon, &mutex);
    }
    if(is_square == 1 && done != 1){
      count1++;
      fprintf(stderr, " %d\n", square_root);
      is_square = 0;
    }
    pthread_cond_signal(&gen); //start generator back up *Solution*
  }
  pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex);


  pthread_join(generator, NULL);

  printf("%d %d\n", count, count1); //shows inconsistency between generator and monitor
  pthread_mutex_destroy(&mutex);
  pthread_cond_destroy(&mon);
}