mutex

2 definitions found

mutex - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  MuTeX
  
     <tool, music> An extension of TeX for typesetting music.
  
     (ftp://nic.stolaf.edu/pub/mutex/MuTeX.tar.Z).
  
     (1995-02-06)
  

  mutex
  
     <parallel> A mutual exclusion object that allows multiple
     threads to synchronise access to a shared resource.  A mutex
     has two states: locked and unlocked.  Once a mutex has been
     locked by a thread, other threads attempting to lock it will
     block.  When the locking thread unlocks (releases) the mutex,
     one of the blocked threads will acquire (lock) it and proceed.
  
     If multiple threads or tasks are blocked on a locked mutex
     object, the one to take it and proceed when it becomes
     available is determined by some type of scheduling algorithm.
     For example, in a priority based system, the highest priority
     blocked task will acquire the mutex and proceed.  Another
     common set-up is put blocked tasks on a first-in-first-out
     queue.
  
     See also: priority inversion
  
     (2002-03-14)