Semaphores & Mutexes

Introduction#

Semaphores & Mutexes are concurrency controls used to synchronize multiple thread access to shared resources.

Remarks#

Semaphore

Here’s a brilliant explanation from this Stackoverflow question:

Think of semaphores as bouncers at a nightclub. There are a dedicated number of people that are allowed in the club at once. If the club is full no one is allowed to enter, but as soon as one person leaves another person might enter.

It’s simply a way to limit the number of consumers for a specific resource. For example, to limit the number of simultaneous calls to a database in an application.

Mutex

A mutex is a semaphore of 1 (i.e. only one thread at a time). Using the nightclub metaphor, think of a mutex in terms of a bathroom stall in the nightclub. Only one occupant allowed at a time.

Mutex in Java & C++

Although Java doesn’t have a Mutex class, you can mimic a Mutex with the use of a Semaphore of 1. The following example executes two threads with and without locking. Without locking, the program spits out a somewhat random order of output characters ($ or #). With locking, the program spits out nice, orderly character sets of either ##### or $$$$$, but never a mix of # & $.

import java.util.concurrent.Semaphore;
import java.util.concurrent.ThreadLocalRandom;

public class MutexTest {
   static Semaphore semaphore = new Semaphore(1);

   static class MyThread extends Thread {
      boolean lock;
      char c = ' ';

      MyThread(boolean lock, char c) {
         this.lock = lock;
         this.c = c;
      }

      public void run() {
         try {
            // Generate a random number between 0 & 50
            // The random nbr is used to simulate the "unplanned"
            // execution of the concurrent code
            int randomNbr = ThreadLocalRandom.current().nextInt(0, 50 + 1);

            for (int j=0; j<10; ++j) {
               if(lock) semaphore.acquire();
               try {
                  for (int i=0; i<5; ++i) {
                     System.out.print(c);
                     Thread.sleep(randomNbr);
                  }
               } finally {
                  if(lock) semaphore.release();
               }
               System.out.print('|');
            }
         } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
         }
      }
   }

   public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
      System.out.println("Without Locking:");
      MyThread th1 = new MyThread(false, '$');
      th1.start();
      MyThread th2 = new MyThread(false, '#');
      th2.start();
      
      th1.join();
      th2.join();

      System.out.println('\n');

      System.out.println("With Locking:");
      MyThread th3 = new MyThread(true, '$');
      th3.start();
      MyThread th4 = new MyThread(true, '#');
      th4.start();
      
      th3.join();
      th4.join();

      System.out.println('\n');
   }
}

Run javac MutexTest.java; java MutexTest, and you will get something like this:

Without Locking: #$$$$$|$$$$$|$$#$$$|$$$$$|$$$$#$|$$$$$|$$$$$|$#$$$$|$$$$$|$$$#$$||#####|#####|#####|#####|#####|#####|#####|#####|#####|

With Locking: $$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|

Here’s the same example in C++:

#include <iostream>       // std::cout
#include <thread>         // std::thread
#include <mutex>          // std::mutex
#include <random>         // std::random_device

class MutextTest {
   private:
      static std::mutex mtx;  // mutex for critical section

   public:
      static void run(bool lock, char c) {
         // Generate a random number between 0 & 50
         // The random nbr is used to simulate the "unplanned"
         // execution of the concurrent code
         std::uniform_int_distribution<int> dist(0, 50);
         std::random_device rd;
         int randomNbr = dist(rd);
         //std::cout << randomNbr << '\n';

        for(int j=0; j<10; ++j) {
           if(lock) mtx.lock();
           for (int i=0; i<5; ++i) {
              std::cout << c << std::flush;
              std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(randomNbr));
           }
           std::cout << '|';
           if(lock) mtx.unlock();
        }
      }
};

std::mutex MutextTest::mtx;

int main()
{
  std::cout << "Without Locking:\n";
  std::thread th1 (MutextTest::run, false, '$');
  std::thread th2 (MutextTest::run, false, '#');

  th1.join();
  th2.join();

  std::cout << "\n\n";

  std::cout << "With Locking:\n";
  std::thread th3 (MutextTest::run, true, '$');
  std::thread th4 (MutextTest::run, true, '#');

  th3.join();
  th4.join();

  std::cout << '\n';

  return 0;
}

Run g++ —std=c++11 MutexTest.cpp; ./a.out, and you will get something like this:

Without Locking: $#$#$#$#$#|$|#$#$#$#$#|$$|#$#$#$#|$#$|#$#$#$#|$$#$|#$#$#|$#$#$|#$#$#|$#$$#$|#$#|$#$#$#$|#$#|$#$#$#$$|#|$#$#$#$#$|#|####|

With Locking: $$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|$$$$$|#####|