Linux/UNIX Threads and IPC Programming course outline

1. Threads: Introduction
   • Overview of threads
   • Pthreads API basics
   • Thread creation and termination
   • Thread IDs
   • Joining and detaching threads
   • Thread attributes
   • Signals and threads
   • Threads and process control
2. Threads: Synchronization
   • Shared resources and critical sections
   • Mutexes
   • Locking and unlocking a mutex
   • Condition variables
   • Signaling and waiting on condition variables
   • Further details on signaling condition variables
   • Dynamically initialized synchronization primitives
   • Other synchronization primitives
3. IPC: Introduction and Overview (*)
   • Categorizing IPC
   • Choosing an IPC mechanism
4. Pipes and FIFOs
   • Creating and using pipes
   • FIFOs
   • Connecting filters with pipes
5. Sockets: Concepts and UNIX Domain
   • Socket types and domains
   • Creating and binding a socket
   • System calls: stream sockets
   • UNIX domain stream sockets
   • System calls: datagram sockets
   • UNIX domain datagram sockets
   • Further details of UNIX domain sockets
6. Sockets: Internet Domain
   • Internet domain sockets
   • Data-representation issues
   • Loopback and wildcard addresses
   • Host addresses and port numbers
   • Host and service conversion
   • Internet domain sockets example
   • Additional sockets system calls
7. Alternative I/O Models
   • Nonblocking I/O
   • Signal-driven I/O
   • I/O multiplexing: poll()
   • Event-loop programming
8. Alternative I/O Models: epoll
   • Problems with poll() and select()
   • The epoll API
   • epoll events
   • Edge-triggered notification
   • epoll API quirks
9. POSIX Semaphores
   • Named semaphores
   • Semaphore operations
   • Unnamed semaphores
10. POSIX Shared Memory
    • Creating and opening shared memory objects
    • Using shared memory objects
    • Synchronizing access to shared memory

(*) Topics marked with an asterisk will be covered subject to time constraints.