BDE 4.14.0 Production release
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bdlcc_boundedqueue

Detailed Description

Outline

Purpose

Provide a thread-aware bounded queue of values.

Classes

See also
bdlcc_fixedqueue

Description

This component defines a type, bdlcc::BoundedQueue, that provides an efficient, thread-aware bounded (capacity fixed at construction) queue of values. This class is ideal for synchronization and communication between threads in a producer-consumer model when a bounded queue is appropriate. Under most cicrumstances developers should prefer this component to the older {bdlcc_fixedqueue} (see {Comparison to FixedQueue}).

The queue provides pushBack and popFront methods for pushing data into the queue and popping data from the queue. When the queue is full, the pushBack methods block until data is removed from the queue. When the queue is empty, the popFront methods block until data appears in the queue. Non-blocking methods tryPushBack and tryPopFront are also provided. The tryPushBack method fails immediately, returning a non-zero value, if the queue is full. The tryPopFront method fails immediately, returning a non-zero value, if the queue is empty.

The queue may be placed into a "enqueue disabled" state using the disablePushBack method. When disabled, pushBack and tryPushBack fail immediately and return an error code. Any threads blocked in pushBack when the queue is enqueue disabled return from pushBack immediately and return an error code. The queue may be restored to normal operation with the enablePushBack method.

The queue may be placed into a "dequeue disabled" state using the disablePopFront method. When dequeue disabled, popFront and tryPopFront fail immediately and return an error code. Any threads blocked in popFront when the queue is dequeue disabled return from popFront immediately and return an error code. The queue may be restored to normal operation with the enablePopFront method.

Comparison To FixedQueue

Both bdlcc::FixedQueue and bdlcc::BoundedQueue provide thread-aware bounded queues. Under most circumstances developers should prefer {bdlcc_boundedqueue}: it is newer, has additional features, and provides better performance under most circumstances. bdlcc::BoundedQueue is not quite a drop in replacement for bdlcc::FixedQueue so both types are currently maintained. There is additional information about performance of various queues in the article Concurrent Queue Evaluation (https://tinyurl.com/mr2un9f7).

Template Requirements

bdlcc::BoundedQueue is a template that is parameterized on the type of element contained within the queue. The supplied template argument, TYPE, must provide both a default constructor and a copy constructor, as well as an assignment operator. If the default constructor accepts a bslma::Allocator *, TYPE must declare the uses bslma::Allocator trait (see bslma_usesbslmaallocator ) so that the allocator of the queue is propagated to the elements contained in the queue.

Exception Safety

A bdlcc::BoundedQueue is exception neutral, and all of the methods of bdlcc::BoundedQueue provide the basic exception safety guarantee (see bsldoc_glossary ). If an exception occurs while writing to an element, the element is marked unusable until after a read attempt from the element (at which point the element is "reclaimed"). This failure to write does not increment the result returned by numElements. Hence, numElements() == capacity() is not a valid replacement for isFull().

Move Semantics in C++03

Move-only types are supported by bdlcc::BoundedQueue on C++11 platforms only (where BSLMF_MOVABLEREF_USES_RVALUE_REFERENCES is defined), and are not supported on C++03 platforms. Unfortunately, in C++03, there are user types where a bslmf::MovableRef will not safely degrade to a lvalue reference when a move constructor is not available (types providing a constructor template taking any type), so bslmf::MovableRefUtil::move cannot be used directly on a user supplied template type. See internal bug report 99039150 for more information.

Usage

This section illustrates intended use of this component.

Example 1: A Simple Thread Pool

In the following example a bdlcc::BoundedQueue is used to communicate between a single "producer" thread and multiple "consumer" threads. The "producer" will push work requests onto the queue, and each "consumer" will iteratively take a work request from the queue and service the request. This example shows a partial, simplified implementation of the bdlmt::FixedThreadPool class. See component bdlmt_fixedthreadpool for more information.

First, we define a utility classes that handles a simple "work item":

/// Work data...
struct my_WorkData {
};
struct my_WorkRequest {
enum RequestType {
e_WORK = 1,
e_STOP = 2
};
RequestType d_type;
my_WorkData d_data;
// Work data...
};

Next, we provide a simple function to service an individual work item. The details are unimportant for this example:

/// Do some work based upon the specified `data`.
void myDoWork(const my_WorkData& data)
{
// do some stuff...
(void)data;
}

Then, we define a myConsumer function that will pop elements off the queue and process them. Note that the call to queue->popFront() will block until there is an element available on the queue. This function will be executed in multiple threads, so that each thread waits in queue->popFront(), and bdlcc::BoundedQueue guarantees that each thread gets a unique element from the queue:

/// Pop elements from the specified `queue`.
void myConsumer(bdlcc::BoundedQueue<my_WorkRequest> *queue)
{
while (1) {
// `popFront()` will wait for a `my_WorkRequest` until available.
my_WorkRequest item;
item.d_type = my_WorkRequest::e_WORK;
assert(0 == queue->popFront(&item));
if (item.d_type == my_WorkRequest::e_STOP) { break; }
myDoWork(item.d_data);
}
}
Definition bdlcc_boundedqueue.h:415
int popFront(TYPE *value)
Definition bdlcc_boundedqueue.h:1090

Finally, we define a myProducer function that serves multiple roles: it creates the bdlcc::BoundedQueue, starts the consumer threads, and then produces and enqueues work items. When work requests are exhausted, this function enqueues one e_STOP item for each consumer queue. This e_STOP item indicates to the consumer thread to terminate its thread-handling function.

Note that, although the producer cannot control which thread pops a particular work item, it can rely on the knowledge that each consumer thread will read a single e_STOP item and then terminate.

/// Create a queue, start the specified `numThreads` consumer threads,
/// produce and enqueue work.
void myProducer(int numThreads)
{
enum {
k_MAX_QUEUE_LENGTH = 100,
k_NUM_WORK_ITEMS = 1000
};
bdlcc::BoundedQueue<my_WorkRequest> queue(k_MAX_QUEUE_LENGTH);
bslmt::ThreadGroup consumerThreads;
consumerThreads.addThreads(bdlf::BindUtil::bind(&myConsumer, &queue),
numThreads);
for (int i = 0; i < k_NUM_WORK_ITEMS; ++i) {
my_WorkRequest item;
item.d_type = my_WorkRequest::e_WORK;
item.d_data = my_WorkData(); // some stuff to do
queue.pushBack(item);
}
for (int i = 0; i < numThreads; ++i) {
my_WorkRequest item;
item.d_type = my_WorkRequest::e_STOP;
queue.pushBack(item);
}
consumerThreads.joinAll();
}
int pushBack(const TYPE &value)
Definition bdlcc_boundedqueue.h:1106
static Bind< bslmf::Nil, t_FUNC, Bind_BoundTuple0 > bind(t_FUNC func)
Definition bdlf_bind.h:1830
Definition bslmt_threadgroup.h:156
int addThreads(const INVOKABLE &functor, int numThreads)
Definition bslmt_threadgroup.h:247