What is the best practice for passing data between threads? Queues, messages or others?

Question

I got sensor data of various types that needs to be processed at different stages. From what I have read around, the most efficent way is to split the tasks into threads. Each p

Answer 1

I had to do something similar recently. I used the approach of input/output queue. I think is the best and fast method to use. This is my version of a thread safe concurrent queue. I have in my project three working threads doing lots of calculation in sequence to the same buffer etc. Each thread use the pop from the input queue and push the output queue. So I have this wpop that wait the next buffer available in the queue. I hope can be usefull for you.

/*
    Thread_safe queue with conditional variable
*/

template<typename dataType>
class CConcurrentQueue
{
private:
    /// Queue
    std::queue<dataType> m_queue;       
    /// Mutex to controll multiple access
    std::mutex m_mutex;                 
    /// Conditional variable used to fire event
    std::condition_variable m_cv;       
    /// Atomic variable used to terminate immediately wpop and wtpop functions
    std::atomic<bool> m_forceExit = false;  

public:
    /// <summary> Add a new element in the queue. </summary>
    /// <param name="data"> New element. </param>
    void push ( dataType const& data )
    {
        m_forceExit.store ( false );
        std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk ( m_mutex );
        m_queue.push ( data );
        lk.unlock ();
        m_cv.notify_one ();
    }
    /// <summary> Check queue empty. </summary>
    /// <returns> True if the queue is empty. </returns>
    bool isEmpty () const
    {
        std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk ( m_mutex );
        return m_queue.empty ();
    }
    /// <summary> Pop element from queue. </summary>
    /// <param name="popped_value"> [in,out] Element. </param>
    /// <returns> false if the queue is empty. </returns>
    bool pop ( dataType& popped_value )
    {
        std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk ( m_mutex );
        if ( m_queue.empty () )
        {
            return false;
        }
        else
        {
            popped_value = m_queue.front ();
            m_queue.pop ();
            return true;
        }
    }
    /// <summary> Wait and pop an element in the queue. </summary>
    /// <param name="popped_value"> [in,out] Element. </param>
    ///  <returns> False for forced exit. </returns>
    bool wpop ( dataType& popped_value )
    {
        std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk ( m_mutex );
        m_cv.wait ( lk, [&]()->bool{ return !m_queue.empty () || m_forceExit.load(); } );
        if ( m_forceExit.load() ) return false;
        popped_value = m_queue.front ();
        m_queue.pop ();
        return true;
    }
    /// <summary> Timed wait and pop an element in the queue. </summary>
    /// <param name="popped_value"> [in,out] Element. </param>
    /// <param name="milliseconds"> [in] Wait time. </param>
    ///  <returns> False for timeout or forced exit. </returns>
    bool wtpop ( dataType& popped_value , long milliseconds = 1000)
    {
        std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk ( m_mutex );
        m_cv.wait_for ( lk, std::chrono::milliseconds ( milliseconds  ), [&]()->bool{ return !m_queue.empty () || m_forceExit.load(); } );
        if ( m_forceExit.load() ) return false;
        if ( m_queue.empty () ) return false;
        popped_value = m_queue.front ();
        m_queue.pop ();
        return true;
    }
    /// <summary> Queue size. </summary>    
    int size ()
    {   
        std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk ( m_mutex );
        return static_cast< int >( m_queue.size () );
    }
    /// <summary> Free the queue and force stop. </summary>
    void clear ()
    { 
        m_forceExit.store( true );
        std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk ( m_mutex );
        while ( !m_queue.empty () )
        {
            delete m_queue.front ();
            m_queue.pop ();
        }
    }
    /// <summary> Check queue in forced exit state. </summary>
    bool isExit () const
    {
        return m_forceExit.load();
    }

};