Description
Problem Description
Consider a system with 3 smoker processes and 1 agent process. Each smoker continuously rolls a cigarette
and then smokes it. The smoker needs three ingredients: tobacco, paper, and matches. One of the smokers
has paper, another has tobacco, and the third has matches. The agent has an infinite supply of all three
materials and (randomly) places two of the ingredients on the table each time. The smoker who has the
remaining ingredient then makes and smokes a cigarette, signaling the agent on completion. The agent
then puts out another two of the three ingredients, and the cycle repeats.
TO DO Write a program to synchronize the agent and smoker processes using:
(a) semaphores
(b) pthread libraries
Instructions
• Please see this link for pseudocode: http://www.cs.umd.edu/~hollings/cs412/s96/synch/smokers.
html
• Though the description says the agent process can infinitely supply two of the three ingredients, you
can assume that the agent places ingredients only a finite number of times, say for example 10.
• You need to use the sem.h header file in your semaphore-based solution.
Submission Instructions
Submit your solution to the cigarette smokers problem along with a brief report (atmost 1 page) on how
your solution synchronizes the four processes. Draw comparison between semaphore and pthread library
based solutions highlighting the merits and demerits of both approaches. The C solution files must be
internally documented.
Zip your source & explanation text files into a single folder as: task6_lastname.zip. Email your zip file with
the subject line, “Task 6 – CSc 332(6X) – lastname”.
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