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What is the difference between a condition variable and a semaphore?

What is the difference between a condition variable and a semaphore?

In most systems, boolean semaphores are just a special case of counting semaphores, also known as general semaphores. The condition variable is a synchronization primative that provides a queue for threads waiting for a resource. Otherwise it adds itself to the queue of threads waiting for the resource.

What is the difference between mutex and condition variable?

A monitor (a mutex + a conditional variable) helps us here. We still need a mutex to guarantee mutual exclusive access but a conditional variable lets us sleep and wait for a certain condition. The condition here is the producer adding an item to the buffer.

What are the differences between a monitor and a semaphore?

The main difference between Semaphore and Monitor is that Semaphore is an integer variable that performs wait() and signal() operations, while Monitor is an abstract data type that allows only one process to use the shared resource at a time. Usually, multiple processes run on an operating system.

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What is the difference between a mutex and a semaphore?

A mutex object allows multiple process threads to access a single shared resource but only one at a time. On the other hand, semaphore allows multiple process threads to access the finite instance of the resource until available. In mutex, the lock can be acquired and released by the same process at a time.

What is monitor condition variable?

A condition variable essentially is a container of threads that are waiting for a certain condition. Monitors provide a mechanism for threads to temporarily give up exclusive access in order to wait for some condition to be met, before regaining exclusive access and resuming their task.

What is mutex condition?

6.22. 5 Mutexes and Condition Variables. Short for “mutual exclusion”, the name “mutex” indicates that only one thread at a time can acquire access to data that is protected by a mutex – threads are excluded from accessing data at the same time.

What is the difference between semaphore mutex and spinlock?

It allows a thread to acquire it to simply wait in loop until the lock is available i.e. a thread waits in a loop or spin until the lock is available. Spinlock is held for a short period of time….Difference between Spinlock and Semaphore.

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S.No. SPINLOCK SEMAPHORE
2. A spinlock is a low-level synchronization mechanism. A semaphore is a signaling mechanism.

Why is a monitor useful compared to a mutex?

The monitor lock only exist inside a single process, while the Mutex -lock is machine wide. So a monitor lock is appropriate for making objects and data-structures thread safe, but not for providing system-wide exclusive access to say a file or device.

What are condition variables used for?

Condition variables are synchronization primitives that enable threads to wait until a particular condition occurs. Condition variables are user-mode objects that cannot be shared across processes. Condition variables enable threads to atomically release a lock and enter the sleeping state.

What is the purpose of a condition variable?

A condition variable is basically a container of threads that are waiting for a certain condition. Monitors provide a mechanism for threads to temporarily give up exclusive access in order to wait for some condition to be met, before regaining exclusive access and resuming their task.