printing odd and even number printing alternately using threads in C++

Question

Odd even number printing using thread I came across this question and wanted to discuss solution in C++ . What I can think of using 2 binary semaphores odd and even semapho

Answer 1

I fail to understand why you want to use three separate threads for a serial behavior. But I will answer anyway:)

One solution would be to use a modified producer/consumer pattern with a prioritized queue between producers and consumers. The sort operation on the queue would depend on the integer value of the posted message. The consumer would peek an element in the queue and check if it is the next expected element. If not, it would sleep/wait.

A bit of code:

class Elt implements Comparable {
  int value;
  Elt(value) { this.value=value; }
  int compare(Elt elt);
}

class EltQueue extends PriorityBlockingQueue { // you shouldn't inherit colelctions, has-a is better, but to make it short
  static EltQueue getInstance(); // singleton pattern
}

class Consumer{
  Elt prevElt = new Elt(-1);
  void work()
  {
    Elt elt = EltQueue.getInstance().peek();
    if (elt.getValue() == prevElt.getValue()+1)) {
      EltQueue.getInstance().poll();
      //do work on Elt
    }
  }
}

class Producer {
  int n=0; // or 1!
  void work() {
    EltQueue.getInstance().put(new Elt(n+=2));
  }
}