Traffic Light Simulation in C++

This project simulates a simple traffic light controller using C++.
It demonstrates key programming concepts such as:

• State management with an enum-based finite state machine (RED, GREEN, YELLOW)
• Multithreading for non-blocking user input detection using std::thread
• Atomic flags for safe communication between threads
• Asynchronous input handling to simulate a pedestrian button press without freezing the program

Features

• Red light waits up to 8 seconds for a pedestrian to press Enter (simulating a crossing request).
• If the button is pressed, the red light extends for 5 extra seconds to allow pedestrian crossing.
• Light transitions are printed to the console for easy visualization.
• Pedestrian button press can be simulated manually via code or interactively by pressing Enter.

Credits

• Concept & design of the TrafficLightController and state machine: by David (project author)
• AI-assisted implementation of pedestrian button logic using threads and atomic flags for non-blocking input handling: ChatGPT (OpenAI)

Together, this creates an educational example of concurrency, input handling, and state management in C++.

How to run

Compile with a C++11 (or later) compatible compiler:

g++ -std=c++11 traffic_light.cpp -o traffic_light -pthread
./traffic_light