Stackoverflow has been a tremendous help to me and I'd to give something back to the community. I have been implementing a simple threadpool using the tinythread C++ portable thread library, using what I have learnt from Stackoverflow. I am new to thread programming, so not that comfortable with mutexes, etc. I have a question best asked after presenting the code (which runs quite well under Linux): // ThreadPool.h class ThreadPool { public: ThreadPool(); ~ThreadPool(); // Creates a pool of threads and gets them ready to be used void CreateThreads(int numOfThreads); // Assigns a job to a thread in the pool, but doesn't start the job // Each SubmitJob call will use up one thread of the pool. // This operation can only be undone by calling StartJobs and // then waiting for the jobs to complete. On completion, // new jobs may be submitted. void SubmitJob( void (*workFunc)(void *), void *workData ); // Begins execution of all the jobs in the pool. void StartJobs(); // Waits until all jobs have completed. // The wait will block the caller. // On completion, new jobs may be submitted. void WaitForJobsToComplete(); private: enum typeOfWorkEnum { e_work, e_quit }; class ThreadData { public: bool ready; // thread has been created and is ready for work bool haveWorkToDo; typeOfWorkEnum typeOfWork; // Pointer to the work function each thread has to call. void (*workFunc)(void *); // Pointer to work data void *workData; ThreadData() : ready(false), haveWorkToDo(false) { }; }; struct ThreadArgStruct { ThreadPool *threadPoolInstance; int threadId; }; // Data for each thread ThreadData *m_ThreadData; ThreadPool(ThreadPool const&); // copy ctor hidden ThreadPool& operator=(ThreadPool const&); // assign op. hidden // Static function that provides the function pointer that a thread can call // By including the ThreadPool instance in the void * parameter, // we can use it to access other data and methods in the ThreadPool instance. static void ThreadFuncWrapper(void *arg) { ThreadArgStruct *threadArg = static_cast<ThreadArgStruct *>(arg); threadArg->threadPoolInstance->ThreadFunc(threadArg->threadId); } // The function each thread calls void ThreadFunc( int threadId ); // Called by the thread pool destructor void DestroyThreadPool(); // Total number of threads available // (fixed on creation of thread pool) int m_numOfThreads; int m_NumOfThreadsDoingWork; int m_NumOfThreadsGivenJobs; // List of threads std::vector<tthread::thread *> m_ThreadList; // Condition variable to signal each thread has been created and executing tthread::mutex m_ThreadReady_mutex; tthread::condition_variable m_ThreadReady_condvar; // Condition variable to signal each thread to start work tthread::mutex m_WorkToDo_mutex; tthread::condition_variable m_WorkToDo_condvar; // Condition variable to signal the main thread that // all threads in the pool have completed their work tthread::mutex m_WorkCompleted_mutex; tthread::condition_variable m_WorkCompleted_condvar; }; cpp file: // // ThreadPool.cpp // #include "ThreadPool.h" // This is the thread function for each thread. // All threads remain in this function until // they are asked to quit, which only happens // when terminating the thread pool. void ThreadPool::ThreadFunc( int threadId ) { ThreadData *myThreadData = &m_ThreadData[threadId]; std::cout << "Hello world: Thread " << threadId << std::endl; // Signal that this thread is ready m_ThreadReady_mutex.lock(); myThreadData->ready = true; m_ThreadReady_condvar.notify_one(); // notify the main thread m_ThreadReady_mutex.unlock(); while(true) { //tthread::lock_guard<tthread::mutex> guard(m); m_WorkToDo_mutex.lock(); while(!myThreadData->haveWorkToDo) // check for work to do m_WorkToDo_condvar.wait(m_WorkToDo_mutex); // if no work, wait here myThreadData->haveWorkToDo = false; // need to do this before unlocking the mutex m_WorkToDo_mutex.unlock(); // Do the work switch(myThreadData->typeOfWork) { case e_work: std::cout << "Thread " << threadId << ": Woken with work to do\n"; // Do work myThreadData->workFunc(myThreadData->workData); std::cout << "#Thread " << threadId << ": Work is completed\n"; break; case e_quit: std::cout << "Thread " << threadId << ": Asked to quit\n"; return; // ends the thread } // Now to signal the main thread that my work is completed m_WorkCompleted_mutex.lock(); m_NumOfThreadsDoingWork--; // Unsure if this 'if' would make the program more efficient // if(NumOfThreadsDoingWork == 0) m_WorkCompleted_condvar.notify_one(); // notify the main thread m_WorkCompleted_mutex.unlock(); } } ThreadPool::ThreadPool() { m_numOfThreads = 0; m_NumOfThreadsDoingWork = 0; m_NumOfThreadsGivenJobs = 0; } ThreadPool::~ThreadPool() { if(m_numOfThreads) { DestroyThreadPool(); delete [] m_ThreadData; } } void ThreadPool::CreateThreads(int numOfThreads) { // Check a thread pool has already been created if(m_numOfThreads > 0) return; m_NumOfThreadsGivenJobs = 0; m_NumOfThreadsDoingWork = 0; m_numOfThreads = numOfThreads; m_ThreadData = new ThreadData[m_numOfThreads]; ThreadArgStruct threadArg; for(int i=0; i<m_numOfThreads; ++i) { threadArg.threadId = i; threadArg.threadPoolInstance = this; // Creates the thread and save in a list so we can destroy it later m_ThreadList.push_back( new tthread::thread( ThreadFuncWrapper, (void *)&threadArg ) ); // It takes a little time for a thread to get established. // Best wait until it gets established before creating the next thread. m_ThreadReady_mutex.lock(); while(!m_ThreadData[i].ready) // Check if thread is ready m_ThreadReady_condvar.wait(m_ThreadReady_mutex); // If not, wait here m_ThreadReady_mutex.unlock(); } } // Adds a job to the batch, but doesn't start the job void ThreadPool::SubmitJob(void (*workFunc)(void *), void *workData) { // Check that the thread pool has been created if(!m_numOfThreads) return; if(m_NumOfThreadsGivenJobs >= m_numOfThreads) return; m_ThreadData[m_NumOfThreadsGivenJobs].workFunc = workFunc; m_ThreadData[m_NumOfThreadsGivenJobs].workData = workData; std::cout << "Submitted job " << m_NumOfThreadsGivenJobs << std::endl; m_NumOfThreadsGivenJobs++; } void ThreadPool::StartJobs() { // Check that the thread pool has been created // and some jobs have been assigned if(!m_numOfThreads || !m_NumOfThreadsGivenJobs) return; // Set 'haveworkToDo' flag for all threads m_WorkToDo_mutex.lock(); for(int i=0; i<m_NumOfThreadsGivenJobs; ++i) m_ThreadData[i].haveWorkToDo = true; m_NumOfThreadsDoingWork = m_NumOfThreadsGivenJobs; // Reset this counter so we can resubmit jobs later m_NumOfThreadsGivenJobs = 0; // Notify all threads they have work to do m_WorkToDo_condvar.notify_all(); m_WorkToDo_mutex.unlock(); } void ThreadPool::WaitForJobsToComplete() { // Check that a thread pool has been created if(!m_numOfThreads) return; m_WorkCompleted_mutex.lock(); while(m_NumOfThreadsDoingWork > 0) // Check if all threads have completed their work m_WorkCompleted_condvar.wait(m_WorkCompleted_mutex); // If not, wait here m_WorkCompleted_mutex.unlock(); } void ThreadPool::DestroyThreadPool() { std::cout << "Ask threads to quit\n"; m_WorkToDo_mutex.lock(); for(int i=0; i<m_numOfThreads; ++i) { m_ThreadData[i].haveWorkToDo = true; m_ThreadData[i].typeOfWork = e_quit; } m_WorkToDo_condvar.notify_all(); m_WorkToDo_mutex.unlock(); // As each thread terminates, catch them here for(int i=0; i<m_numOfThreads; ++i) { tthread::thread *t = m_ThreadList[i]; // Wait for thread to complete t->join(); } m_numOfThreads = 0; } Example of usage: (this calculates pi-squared/6) struct CalculationDataStruct { int inputVal; double outputVal; }; void LongCalculation( void *theSums ) { CalculationDataStruct *sums = (CalculationDataStruct *)theSums; int terms = sums->inputVal; double sum; for(int i=1; i<terms; i++) sum += 1.0/( double(i)*double(i) ); sums->outputVal = sum; } int main(int argc, char** argv) { int numThreads = 10; // Create pool ThreadPool threadPool; threadPool.CreateThreads(numThreads); // Create thread workspace CalculationDataStruct sums[numThreads]; // Set up jobs for(int i=0; i<numThreads; i++) { sums[i].inputVal = 3000*(i+1); threadPool.SubmitJob(LongCalculation, &sums[i]); } // Run the jobs threadPool.StartJobs(); threadPool.WaitForJobsToComplete(); // Print results for(int i=0; i<numThreads; i++) std::cout << "Sum of " << sums[i].inputVal << " terms is " << sums[i].outputVal << std::endl; return 0; } Question: In the ThreadPool::ThreadFunc method, would better performance be obtained if the following if statement if(NumOfThreadsDoingWork == 0) was included? Also, I'd be grateful of criticisms and ways to improve the code. At the same time, I hope the code is of use to others.