INTRODUCTION

• A simple train station simulator with multithreading, mutexes and conditional variables

INPUT

• a .txt file with the following format:
  • each line represent a train with the first element being wither e,E,w,W. Second element is the load time with cross time being the 3rd element, separated by " "

OUTPUT

• if a train is ready to go/finished loading :%timestamp% Train %train_number% is ready to go %direction%
• if a train is on a track: %timestamp% Train %train_number% is ON the main track going %direction%
• if a train has finished crossing: %timestamp% Train %train_number% is OFF the main track after going %direction%

HIGH-LEVEL OVERVIEW

• the main() function reads the file line by line and add each train to an array of train, with each array element containing a conditional variable to - - signal crossing
• after a train is added to the array a thread is created for that train
• after all trains are added to the array, a signal is broadcasted for all trains to start loading
• there are 2 queues representing high priority trains and low priority trains
• after loading is completed, the trains are added to the appropriate queues
• the dispatcher checks is the high priority queue is empty, if not it dispatches all the trains in the queue
• then it dispatches all the low priority trains
• once all trains are done, program shuts down

REFERENCE

• Code for enqueue and dequeue cited from https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/queue-set-1introduction-and-array-implementation/