Question

in pthread library it is possible to find non blocking function:

int pthread_mutex_trylock(pthread_mutex_t *mutex);

can I find something similar in Windows?

Answer 1

If you are using a critical section for your lock then the equivalent is TryEnterCriticalSection().

If you are using a mutex for your lock then the equivalent is to call WaitForSingleObject() passing 0 as the timeout.

If you are unfamiliar with Windows synchronisation objects, don’t be fooled into preferring the mutex because it has a name that you are most familiar with from a pthreads background. So long as your synchronisation is within process, critical sections are more efficient and easier to use.