Threaded Program Structure

Single-threaded C++ Program Structure

• Non-threaded C++ programs have a single thread

  • When this thread starts, it executes the code in main()
  • main() is the entry point function for the thread

• main() can call other functions

  • Thee run in the main thread

• When main() returns, the thread ends

  • The program ends when the main thread ends

Multi-threaded C++ Program Structure

• Multi-threaded C++ programs also have a main thread

  • The main thread starts additional threads
  • These could, in turn, start further threads

• Each thread has its own entry point function

  • When the thread starts, it executes the code in this function
  • When the function returns, the thread ends
  • The main thread continues to execute its own code
  • It does not wait for other threads, unless we explicitly tell it to