Have you ever used mutual exclusion mechanisms to synchronize threads or processes?

Deadlock is a situation where two or more threads or processes permanently block each other, waiting for resources held by each other.

To synchronize threads and prevent deadlocks in C/C++, various mechanisms are often used:

• Using mutexes (std::mutex) with careful resource acquisition order.
• Applying std::lock or std::scoped_lock for simultaneous locking of multiple mutexes without the risk of deadlock.
• Using timeouts when attempting to acquire locks to avoid infinite waiting.

An example with std::scoped_lock, which prevents deadlock when acquiring two mutexes:

#include <mutex>

std::mutex mtx1, mtx2;

void safeFunction() {
    std::scoped_lock lock(mtx1, mtx2); // acquires both mutexes simultaneously
    // critical section
}

When working with threads, it is important to follow the resource acquisition order and use modern synchronization tools to avoid deadlocks.