Explain the meaning of mutex.Mutex is the short form for ‘Mutual Exclusion object’. A mutex allows multiple threads for sharing the same resource. The resource can be file. A mutex with a unique name is created at the time of starting a program. A mutex must be locked from other threads, when any thread that needs the resource. When the data is no longer used / needed, the mutex is set to unlock. A mutex and the binary semaphore are essentially the same. Both can take values: 0 or 1. However, there is a significant difference between them that makes mutexes more efficient than binary semaphores.
A mutex can be unlocked only by the thread that locked it. Thus a mutex has an owner concept.What is difference between binary semaphore and mutex?The differences between binary semaphore and mutex are:
- Mutex is used exclusively for mutual exclusion. Both mutual exclusion and synchronization can be used by binary. - A task that took mutex can only give mutex. - From an ISR a mutex can not be given. - Recursive taking of mutual exclusion semaphores is possible. This means that a task that holds before finally releasing a semaphore, can take the semaphore more than once. - Options for making the task which takes as DELETE_SAFE are provided by Mutex, which means the task deletion is not possible when holding the mutex.
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