Reader Writer program in C using mutexes and pthreads

Question

I am stuck on a Reader/Writer problem in C. Can anybody explain me what is happening in the code below. I dont understand how the execution flows after the pthread_create(&tid,NULL,writer,NULL) line.

#include<pthread.h>
//#include<semaphore.h>
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>

pthread_mutex_t x,wsem;
pthread_t tid;
int readcount;

void intialize()
{
    pthread_mutex_init(&x,NULL);
    pthread_mutex_init(&wsem,NULL);
    readcount=0;
}

void * reader (void * param)
{
    int waittime;
    waittime = rand() % 5;
    printf("\nReader is trying to enter");
    pthread_mutex_lock(&x);
    readcount++;
    if(readcount==1)
        pthread_mutex_lock(&wsem);
    printf("\n%d Reader is inside ",readcount);
    pthread_mutex_unlock(&x);
    sleep(waittime);
    pthread_mutex_lock(&x);
    readcount--;
    if(readcount==0)
        pthread_mutex_unlock(&wsem);
    pthread_mutex_unlock(&x);
    printf("\nReader is Leaving");
}   

void * writer (void * param)
{
    int waittime;
    waittime=rand() % 3;
    printf("\nWriter is trying to enter");
    pthread_mutex_lock(&wsem);
    printf("\nWrite has entered");
    sleep(waittime);
    pthread_mutex_unlock(&wsem);    
    printf("\nWriter is leaving");
    sleep(30);
    exit(0);
}

int main()
{
    int n1,n2,i;    
    printf("\nEnter the no of readers: ");
    scanf("%d",&n1);
    printf("\nEnter the no of writers: ");
    scanf("%d",&n2);
    for(i=0;i<n1;i++)
        pthread_create(&tid,NULL,reader,NULL);  
    for(i=0;i<n2;i++)
        pthread_create(&tid,NULL,writer,NULL);
    sleep(30);
    exit(0);
}

Answer 1

If you havn't get your answer then you can try following code. Try to compare with above given code.

semaphore mutex = 1;                 // Controls access to the reader count
semaphore db = 1;                    // Controls access to the database
int reader_count;                    // The number of reading processes accessing the data

Reader()
{
  while (TRUE) {                     // loop forever
     down(&mutex);                          // gain access to reader_count
     reader_count = reader_count + 1;       // increment the reader_count
     if (reader_count == 1)
         down(&db);                         // if this is the first process to read the database,
                                            // a down on db is executed to prevent access to the 
                                            // database by a writing process
     up(&mutex);                            // allow other processes to access reader_count
     read_db();                             // read the database
     down(&mutex);                          // gain access to reader_count
     reader_count = reader_count - 1;       // decrement reader_count
     if (reader_count == 0)
         up(&db);                           // if there are no more processes reading from the 
                                            // database, allow writing process to access the data
     up(&mutex);                            // allow other processes to access reader_countuse_data();
                                            // use the data read from the database (non-critical)
}

Writer()
{
  while (TRUE) {                     // loop forever
     create_data();                         // create data to enter into database (non-critical)
     down(&db);                             // gain access to the database
     write_db();                            // write information to the database
     up(&db);                               // release exclusive access to the database
}

Answer 2

nice question try to use this. It seems like u r confused with reader writer problem.

void reader(){
   while(1){
      wait(x);
        readcount++;
        if (readcount==1) 
             wait(wsem);
      signal(x);
      doReading();
      wait(x);
        readcount--;
        if (readcount==0)
             signal(wsem);
      signal(x);
   }
}