Threading

[1nsp1r3d]

Hi all, I always wondered, when using the lock statement, people lock other variables that the one which we want to serialize access to. Eg, if we want to serialize the call to a static int(varname++;), why do we chose to lock on another variable? Do we assume that whenever we will want to access this variable again, we're going to check if this variable has been locked previously? Thanks

[Curtis Schlak]

They do it as a matter of convenience; the variables on which they lock will always exist. In C#, for example, let's say we want to access an instance variable within the class from more than one thread running within the class. So, we'd lock on the instance of the class since we know the class exists since we're running those methods! lock( this ) If we want to access a static variable within a class from more than one thread, we use the runtime information to lock on that class, since we know the class exists, since we're attempting to change the value of a static variable contained within it. lock( typeof( MyClass ) ). I hope that makes sense. "we must lose precision to make significant statements about complex systems." -deKorvin on uncertainty