Initial commit of OpenSPARC T2 architecture model.
[OpenSPARC-T2-SAM] / sam-t2 / devtools / amd64 / man / man3 / Thread::Semaphore.3
.\" Automatically generated by Pod::Man v1.37, Pod::Parser v1.32
.\"
.\" Standard preamble:
.\" ========================================================================
.de Sh \" Subsection heading
.br
.if t .Sp
.ne 5
.PP
\fB\\$1\fR
.PP
..
.de Sp \" Vertical space (when we can't use .PP)
.if t .sp .5v
.if n .sp
..
.de Vb \" Begin verbatim text
.ft CW
.nf
.ne \\$1
..
.de Ve \" End verbatim text
.ft R
.fi
..
.\" Set up some character translations and predefined strings. \*(-- will
.\" give an unbreakable dash, \*(PI will give pi, \*(L" will give a left
.\" double quote, and \*(R" will give a right double quote. | will give a
.\" real vertical bar. \*(C+ will give a nicer C++. Capital omega is used to
.\" do unbreakable dashes and therefore won't be available. \*(C` and \*(C'
.\" expand to `' in nroff, nothing in troff, for use with C<>.
.tr \(*W-|\(bv\*(Tr
.ds C+ C\v'-.1v'\h'-1p'\s-2+\h'-1p'+\s0\v'.1v'\h'-1p'
.ie n \{\
. ds -- \(*W-
. ds PI pi
. if (\n(.H=4u)&(1m=24u) .ds -- \(*W\h'-12u'\(*W\h'-12u'-\" diablo 10 pitch
. if (\n(.H=4u)&(1m=20u) .ds -- \(*W\h'-12u'\(*W\h'-8u'-\" diablo 12 pitch
. ds L" ""
. ds R" ""
. ds C` ""
. ds C' ""
'br\}
.el\{\
. ds -- \|\(em\|
. ds PI \(*p
. ds L" ``
. ds R" ''
'br\}
.\"
.\" If the F register is turned on, we'll generate index entries on stderr for
.\" titles (.TH), headers (.SH), subsections (.Sh), items (.Ip), and index
.\" entries marked with X<> in POD. Of course, you'll have to process the
.\" output yourself in some meaningful fashion.
.if \nF \{\
. de IX
. tm Index:\\$1\t\\n%\t"\\$2"
..
. nr % 0
. rr F
.\}
.\"
.\" For nroff, turn off justification. Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
.hy 0
.if n .na
.\"
.\" Accent mark definitions (@(#)ms.acc 1.5 88/02/08 SMI; from UCB 4.2).
.\" Fear. Run. Save yourself. No user-serviceable parts.
. \" fudge factors for nroff and troff
.if n \{\
. ds #H 0
. ds #V .8m
. ds #F .3m
. ds #[ \f1
. ds #] \fP
.\}
.if t \{\
. ds #H ((1u-(\\\\n(.fu%2u))*.13m)
. ds #V .6m
. ds #F 0
. ds #[ \&
. ds #] \&
.\}
. \" simple accents for nroff and troff
.if n \{\
. ds ' \&
. ds ` \&
. ds ^ \&
. ds , \&
. ds ~ ~
. ds /
.\}
.if t \{\
. ds ' \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*8/10-\*(#H)'\'\h"|\\n:u"
. ds ` \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*8/10-\*(#H)'\`\h'|\\n:u'
. ds ^ \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*10/11-\*(#H)'^\h'|\\n:u'
. ds , \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*8/10)',\h'|\\n:u'
. ds ~ \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu-\*(#H-.1m)'~\h'|\\n:u'
. ds / \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*8/10-\*(#H)'\z\(sl\h'|\\n:u'
.\}
. \" troff and (daisy-wheel) nroff accents
.ds : \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*8/10-\*(#H+.1m+\*(#F)'\v'-\*(#V'\z.\h'.2m+\*(#F'.\h'|\\n:u'\v'\*(#V'
.ds 8 \h'\*(#H'\(*b\h'-\*(#H'
.ds o \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu+\w'\(de'u-\*(#H)/2u'\v'-.3n'\*(#[\z\(de\v'.3n'\h'|\\n:u'\*(#]
.ds d- \h'\*(#H'\(pd\h'-\w'~'u'\v'-.25m'\f2\(hy\fP\v'.25m'\h'-\*(#H'
.ds D- D\\k:\h'-\w'D'u'\v'-.11m'\z\(hy\v'.11m'\h'|\\n:u'
.ds th \*(#[\v'.3m'\s+1I\s-1\v'-.3m'\h'-(\w'I'u*2/3)'\s-1o\s+1\*(#]
.ds Th \*(#[\s+2I\s-2\h'-\w'I'u*3/5'\v'-.3m'o\v'.3m'\*(#]
.ds ae a\h'-(\w'a'u*4/10)'e
.ds Ae A\h'-(\w'A'u*4/10)'E
. \" corrections for vroff
.if v .ds ~ \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*9/10-\*(#H)'\s-2\u~\d\s+2\h'|\\n:u'
.if v .ds ^ \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*10/11-\*(#H)'\v'-.4m'^\v'.4m'\h'|\\n:u'
. \" for low resolution devices (crt and lpr)
.if \n(.H>23 .if \n(.V>19 \
\{\
. ds : e
. ds 8 ss
. ds o a
. ds d- d\h'-1'\(ga
. ds D- D\h'-1'\(hy
. ds th \o'bp'
. ds Th \o'LP'
. ds ae ae
. ds Ae AE
.\}
.rm #[ #] #H #V #F C
.\" ========================================================================
.\"
.IX Title "Thread::Semaphore 3"
.TH Thread::Semaphore 3 "2001-09-21" "perl v5.8.8" "Perl Programmers Reference Guide"
.SH "NAME"
Thread::Semaphore \- thread\-safe semaphores
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
.Vb 5
\& use Thread::Semaphore;
\& my $s = new Thread::Semaphore;
\& $s->down; # Also known as the semaphore P operation.
\& # The guarded section is here
\& $s->up; # Also known as the semaphore V operation.
.Ve
.PP
.Vb 4
\& # The default semaphore value is 1.
\& my $s = new Thread::Semaphore($initial_value);
\& $s->down($down_value);
\& $s->up($up_value);
.Ve
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
Semaphores provide a mechanism to regulate access to resources. Semaphores,
unlike locks, aren't tied to particular scalars, and so may be used to
control access to anything you care to use them for.
.PP
Semaphores don't limit their values to zero or one, so they can be used to
control access to some resource that there may be more than one of. (For
example, filehandles.) Increment and decrement amounts aren't fixed at one
either, so threads can reserve or return multiple resources at once.
.SH "FUNCTIONS AND METHODS"
.IX Header "FUNCTIONS AND METHODS"
.IP "new" 8
.IX Item "new"
.PD 0
.IP "new \s-1NUMBER\s0" 8
.IX Item "new NUMBER"
.PD
\&\f(CW\*(C`new\*(C'\fR creates a new semaphore, and initializes its count to the passed
number. If no number is passed, the semaphore's count is set to one.
.IP "down" 8
.IX Item "down"
.PD 0
.IP "down \s-1NUMBER\s0" 8
.IX Item "down NUMBER"
.PD
The \f(CW\*(C`down\*(C'\fR method decreases the semaphore's count by the specified number,
or by one if no number has been specified. If the semaphore's count would drop
below zero, this method will block until such time that the semaphore's
count is equal to or larger than the amount you're \f(CW\*(C`down\*(C'\fRing the
semaphore's count by.
.Sp
This is the semaphore \*(L"P operation\*(R" (the name derives from the Dutch
word \*(L"pak\*(R", which means \*(L"capture\*(R" \*(-- the semaphore operations were
named by the late Dijkstra, who was Dutch).
.IP "up" 8
.IX Item "up"
.PD 0
.IP "up \s-1NUMBER\s0" 8
.IX Item "up NUMBER"
.PD
The \f(CW\*(C`up\*(C'\fR method increases the semaphore's count by the number specified,
or by one if no number has been specified. This will unblock any thread blocked
trying to \f(CW\*(C`down\*(C'\fR the semaphore if the \f(CW\*(C`up\*(C'\fR raises the semaphore count
above the amount that the \f(CW\*(C`down\*(C'\fRs are trying to decrement it by.
.Sp
This is the semaphore \*(L"V operation\*(R" (the name derives from the Dutch
word \*(L"vrij\*(R", which means \*(L"release\*(R").