Producer-Consumer Implementation - linux

Question

I need to implement producer-consumer problem in my project. N consumers and M producers will be created. A producer will use publish(v) call to reach v data to consumer. A consumer will use get_data(v) call to get a copy of data v. I really don't know how to implement it. Please help me.
I am going to use C to implement it. I will create n process for consumers and m process for producers. If a producer publish a data, other producers can not do it until all consumers get it. I will use semaphores and shared memory to exchange data.
I found something which does similar job. But it is using threads but i need process instead. How can i change this.
#include <pthread.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <semaphore.h>
#define BUFF_SIZE 4
#define FULL 0
#define EMPTY 0
char buffer[BUFF_SIZE];
int nextIn = 0;
int nextOut = 0;
sem_t empty_sem_mutex; //producer semaphore
sem_t full_sem_mutex; //consumer semaphore
void Put(char item)
{
int value;
sem_wait(&empty_sem_mutex); //get the mutex to fill the buffer
buffer[nextIn] = item;
nextIn = (nextIn + 1) % BUFF_SIZE;
printf("Producing %c ...nextIn %d..Ascii=%d\n",item,nextIn,item);
if(nextIn==FULL)
{
sem_post(&full_sem_mutex);
sleep(1);
}
sem_post(&empty_sem_mutex);
}
void * Producer()
{
int i;
for(i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
Put((char)('A'+ i % 26));
}
}
void Get()
{
int item;
sem_wait(&full_sem_mutex); // gain the mutex to consume from buffer
item = buffer[nextOut];
nextOut = (nextOut + 1) % BUFF_SIZE;
printf("\t...Consuming %c ...nextOut %d..Ascii=%d\n",item,nextOut,item);
if(nextOut==EMPTY) //its empty
{
sleep(1);
}
sem_post(&full_sem_mutex);
}
void * Consumer()
{
int i;
for(i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
Get();
}
}
int main()
{
pthread_t ptid,ctid;
//initialize the semaphores
sem_init(&empty_sem_mutex,0,1);
sem_init(&full_sem_mutex,0,0);
//creating producer and consumer threads
if(pthread_create(&ptid, NULL,Producer, NULL))
{
printf("\n ERROR creating thread 1");
exit(1);
}
if(pthread_create(&ctid, NULL,Consumer, NULL))
{
printf("\n ERROR creating thread 2");
exit(1);
}
if(pthread_join(ptid, NULL)) /* wait for the producer to finish */
{
printf("\n ERROR joining thread");
exit(1);
}
if(pthread_join(ctid, NULL)) /* wait for consumer to finish */
{
printf("\n ERROR joining thread");
exit(1);
}
sem_destroy(&empty_sem_mutex);
sem_destroy(&full_sem_mutex);
//exit the main thread
pthread_exit(NULL);
return 1;
}

Answer 1

I'd suggest you to make a plan and start reading. For example:
Read about how to create and manage threads. Hint: pthread.
Think how will the threads communicate - usually they use common data structure. Hint: message queue
Think how to protect the data structure, so both threads can read and write safely. Hint: mutexes.
Implement consumer and producer code.
Really, if you want more information you have to work a bit and ask more specific questions. Good luck!