hevent

hevent is not a formal term with a singular definition in computer science; rather, it is a commonly used identifier in source code representing a handle to an event synchronization object. The name is especially prevalent in Windows programming, where many codebases use hevent as a variable holding the handle to an event object.

In Windows, an event object provides a synchronization primitive that threads can signal and wait on. An event can operate in manual-reset mode, where the event remains signaled until it is reset, or auto-reset mode, where the system automatically returns the event to a non-signaled state after releasing a single waiting thread. Event handles are created and opened through Windows API functions and are typically stored in a variable such as hevent. The handle is signaled with SetEvent, can be reset with ResetEvent, and threads wait on it using WaitForSingleObject or WaitForMultipleObjects.

Typical usage involves one thread creating the event and other threads waiting on it. When a condition is met, a thread signals the event with SetEvent to wake waiting threads; in manual-reset mode, all waiting threads are released until the event is reset, whereas in auto-reset mode only one waiting thread is released per signal.

While hevent is a familiar naming convention in Windows-centric code, the concept of an event synchronization object exists across platforms, implemented with different APIs (such as semaphores or condition variables in POSIX). When writing cross-platform code, developers may replace or wrap the Windows-specific event with portable abstractions. Consistent naming helps readability and maintenance within a codebase that uses hevent for event handles.