Thread: Replacing an Event with a boolean variable.

  1. #1
    Carnivore ('-'v) Hunter2's Avatar
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    Replacing an Event with a boolean variable.

    Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong:
    A manual-reset Event object can be replaced with a plain Boolean variable if the event is only set from a single thread, and only checked/reset in a (different) single thread, and the intent is to poll rather than use efficient waiting.

    Are the requirements here too loose/too tight? Or are plain variables just fundamentally unsuitable for thread sync?

    Thanks.
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  2. #2
    Hurry Slowly vart's Avatar
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    the intent is to poll rather than use efficient waiting
    poll on the manual reset event? I do not see a reason here...

    simple variable seems to be enogh here...
    All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection,
    except for the problem of too many layers of indirection.
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  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by vart View Post
    poll on the manual reset event? I do not see a reason here...

    simple variable seems to be enogh here...
    Yes and no.

    First of all, you will have to be careful with how you set the variable and pill the variable. If you don't know what you are doing, the one thread may not realize that the variable has changed.

    Second, if you EVER need to actually WAIT for the other side to finish, then an event is better - because you can tell the OS that you want to wait for it. You can still poll those, by using a timeout of zero and check if the return result is "WAIT_TIMEOUT". This is certainly safer and doesn't have any risks of "messing" up.

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