Creating Threads

Initially your main() program consists of a single, default thread. All other threads must be explicitly created by the programmer. pthread_create creates a new thread and makes it executable. This routine can be called any number of times from anywhere within your code.

pthread_create arguments:

• thread: a unique identifier for the new thread, returned by the subroutine.

• attr: an attribute object that may be used to set thread attributes. You can specify a thread attributes object, or NULL for the default values.

• start_routine: the routine that the thread will execute once it is created.

• arg: a single argument that may be passed to start_routine. It must be passed by reference as a pointer cast of type void. NULL may be used if no argument is to be passed.