This is a timer thread example with a lambda function and std::condition_variable.

timer_example.cpp

#include <iostream>
#include <thread>
#include <mutex>
#include <condition_variable>

#include <unistd.h>

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{   
    std::mutex m;
    std::condition_variable condition;
    bool operationReady = false;

    std::thread timeoutThread([&]()
    {
        std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(m);
        condition.wait_for(lock, std::chrono::seconds(1));
        if(!operationReady)
        {   
            std::cout << "Operation timed out. Quitting..." << std::endl;
            exit(1);
        }
    });   

    std::cout << "Sleeping" << std::endl;
    sleep(2);

    operationReady = true;
    condition.notify_all();

    std::cout << "Operation ready" << std::endl;

    timeoutThread.join();
    return 0;
}

To compile this:

g++ timer_example.cpp -std=c++11 -lpthread