CODEWITHSUNDEEP
clinuxoperating-systempthreads
Marry35
Marry35

Reputation: 415

Function parameter meaning in Linux Programming for Pthread Scheduling API

While doing an assignment on Pthread Scheduling API for Operating Systems course. I came across a function which looks like this:

   int pthread_create(pthread_t *thread, const pthread_attr_t *attr,
                      void *(*start_routine) (void *), void *arg);

Can someone please explain what does the second last function parameter mean in terms of syntax? i.e. 

   void *(*start_routine) (void *)

Upvotes: 0

Views: 46

Answers (1)

P.P
P.P

Reputation: 121407

void *(*start_routine) (void *) is a pointer to a function that takes a void* as an argument and returns a void*.

Generally, you can use cdecl.org to read complex C declarations. For void *(*start_routine) (void *), it says:

declare start_routine as pointer to function (pointer to void) returning pointer to void

In Pthreads, the function pointer passed as an argument to pthread_create() is the thread function, which is run (depending on how OS schedules) after pthread_create() call succeeds.

See here for a simple example of how to use pthread_create() and the thread function.

Upvotes: 1

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