What is better: Select vs Threads?

Question

In linux.

I want to build an autoclicker that will have an enable/disable function when a key is pressed. Obviously there should be 2 things running in parallel (the clicker itself, and the enable/disable function)

What are the cons and pros of each implementation: Using a thread which will handle the autoclicking function and another main thread (for the enable/disable etc...) Or using the syscall select and wait for input/keyboard?

Answer 1

Using select is better for performance, especially when you could have potentially hundreds of simultaneous operations. However it can be difficult to write the code correctly and the style of coding is very different from traditional single threaded programming. For example, you need to avoid calling any blocking methods as it could block your entire application.

Most people find using threads simpler because the majority of the code resembles ordinary single threaded code. The only difficult part is in the few places where you need interthread communication, via mutexes or other synchronization mechanisms.

In your specific case it seems that you will only need a small number of threads, so I'd go for the simpler programming model using threads.