Customer Reviews

Multithreaded Programming with Win32

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In the sections I have had to study, the book is obviously filled with typos. Sadly, it is another example of a poorly edited computer book. P.118 talks of a GetBothForks function. In the example, that function does not exist. There is a function called GetForks. That may be what they are referring to(?) On the next page the book discusses Preemption. The lines referenced in the example are obviously not the lines intended. In other words, references to lines 9-13 are probably really referencing lines 15 - 20(?) Finally, that solution is essentially the same as the previous. The first question a good student would ask is what is the difference? Of course, I guess the book does not pre-suppose a good student is reading. In summary, not edited well and therefore not trustworthy.

This book is very easy to read and follows a natural progression from the problem of why multithreads are needed and how to go about solving the problem. Simple examples of a single reader and single writer thread are presented first followed by increasingly more complex examples of multiple readers and multiple writers with the changes clearly pointed out. I was able to skip around with ease and applied the concepts to my own application within hours. The chapters on monitors were well written - the first chapter in an abstract manner to illustrate the point followed by another chapter that had the actual guts of the code. The chapter on deadlock analysis was very useful in pointing out the issue of deadlock avoidance through the use of preemptive threads. This was important in my application where threads have to yield resources when their allotted cpu time was up.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0130109126/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title

This book is a good place to start if you want to expand your knowledge of using multiple threads in a program. This book also is a good place to start for someone who wants to learn win32 api.

Multithreaded programming is a must in every program released from now on! With multicore processors and multiple processor computers becoming the norm, applications that take advantage of multiple thread will just blow the socks off of your customers for a while, and then keep people happy later.

REMEMBER THOUGH: Multiple threads, etc. are NO SUBSTITUTE for well written and compiled programs.

Hope you all enjoy!
Caleb Begly
Crystal River Computers
[...]


Languages: C++, VB, PHP, Apache, Perl.

BEGINNING PROGRAMMERS:
Confused? Start out with C++; the rest follow naturally.

If you want a book that provide a survey on the topic, this book will serve the purpose as an intro. But the codes are not that reliable. While the authors do provide codes to implement concepts discussed, some of the codes does not even compiled. For those that compiled some of it does not tackle the problem that it should tackle. Further editing and rewriting required.