# slow5lib easy multi-thread API **NOTE: This API documentation is sparse. If something is not clear do not hesitate to open an [issue](https://github.com/hasindu2008/slow5lib/issues).** The easy multi-thread (called *mt* API) API allows the user to access SLOW5 files using multiple threads, simply by specifying the number of threads, rather than needing to write their own multi-threading code. This API is for programmer's convenience, rather than for efficiency. This API is not meant to be used by a programmer who has the expertise to write multi-threaded code and use the slow5 low-level API directly. While fetching using this API would be faster than using a single thread, it would not be as efficient as using low-level API functions directly from the programmer's own multi-threaded code. To use this API, include <slow5/slow5_mt.h> in your programme. Make sure to explicitly enable easy multi-thread API as `make slow5_mt=1`, during compile time of slow5lib. ## Data structures The *slow5_mt_t* structure stores internal multi-threading related data. This structure has the following form: ``` typedef struct { // private members that are not to be directly accessed*/ } slow5_mt_t; ``` The *slow5_batch_t* structure stores a batch of SLOW5 records. This structure has the following form: ``` typedef struct { // private members that are not to be directly accessed*/ slow5_rec_t **slow5_rec; } slow5_batch_t; ``` ## API functions ### Common * [slow5_init_mt](mt_api/slow5_init_mt.md)<br/> initialises a slow5 multi-thread structure * [slow5_free_mt](mt_api/slow5_free_mt.md)<br/> frees up a slow5 multi-thread structure * [slow5_init_batch](mt_api/slow5_init_batch.md)<br/> initialises a slow5 record batch * [slow5_free_batch](mt_api/slow5_free_batch.md)<br/> frees up a slow5 record batch ### Reading and access * [slow5_get_next_batch](mt_api/slow5_get_next_batch.md)<br/> fetches the next batch of records at the current file pointer of a SLOW5 file * [slow5_get_batch](mt_api/slow5_get_batch.md)<br/> fetches a batch of SLOW5 records corresponding to a given batch of read IDs ### Writing and editing * [slow5_write_batch](mt_api/slow5_write_batch.md)<br/> writes a batch of SLOW5 records to a SLOW5 file You may also refer to the examples [here](https://github.com/hasindu2008/slow5lib/tree/master/examples/mt) on how these functions can be used.