C# Lock Statement — Thread Safety Guide

The lock statement in C# is used to ensure thread safety.

Syntax:

lock(obj) {
// Critical section
}

The lock statement guarantees that only one thread at a time can execute the critical section.

Example:

private object lockObj = new object();
private int count = 0;

public void Increment() {
lock(lockObj) {
count++;
}
}

Key Points:

• The lock statement uses a SyncLock mechanism
• The object used for locking must not be null
• Keep critical sections short to prevent deadlocks

Alternative (C# 8.0+):

private readonly object lockObj = new object();

public void Increment() {
lock(lockObj) {
count++;
}
}