Asynchronous Communications—Working with Message Queues

Most programmers are not used to working with queues because, in the past, one either had to develop the capabilities themselves or purchase and learn an expensive and complex package. Microsoft has changed this by delivering a free queue capability with Windows NT Option Pack 4. In this section, we are going to look at what queues are and why would you want to use them.

Why Use Queues?

A queue enables you to asynchronously send information between processes. The queues act as in and out message boxes for the various processes servicing the queues.

There are several situations in which it makes sense to use queues. The first is when you have process intensive tasks that need to be ...

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