Locking Glossary

Browse 6 locking terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

6 Locking Terms

Read Lock
A shared lock that allows multiple threads to read a resource concurrently but blocks any thread attempting to acquire a write lock on the same resource. Read...
Read-Write Lock
A lock that distinguishes between shared (read) and exclusive (write) access: multiple readers can hold the lock concurrently, but a writer requires exclusive...
ReadWriteLock
A Java interface (java.util.concurrent.locks.ReadWriteLock) that provides a pair of associated locks — one for read-only operations and one for writing —...
Spin Lock
A low-level mutual exclusion primitive where a thread repeatedly checks (spins on) an atomic flag in a tight loop rather than yielding the CPU to the...
Synchronized
In Java, a keyword that acquires an intrinsic monitor lock on an object (or class) before executing a block or method, ensuring that only one thread at a time...
Write Lock
An exclusive lock acquired on a resource — such as a database row, file, or memory region — that prevents any other thread or process from reading or writing...

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