C# Programming/Keywords/lock

The lock keyword allows a section of code to exclusively use a resource, a feature useful in multi-threaded applications. If a lock to the specified object is already held when a piece of code tries to lock the object, the code's thread is blocked until the object is available.

using System;
using System.Threading;

class LockDemo
{
    private static int number = 0;
    private static object lockObject = new object();
    
    private static void DoSomething()
    {
        while (true)
        {
            lock (lockObject)
            {
                int originalNumber = number;
                
                number += 1;
                Thread.Sleep((new Random()).Next(1000)); // sleep for a random amount of time
                number += 1;
                Thread.Sleep((new Random()).Next(1000)); // sleep again
                
                Console.Write("Expecting number to be " + (originalNumber + 2).ToString());
                Console.WriteLine(", and it is: " + number.ToString());
                // without the lock statement, the above would produce unexpected results, 
                // since the other thread may have added 2 to the number while we were sleeping.
            }
        }
    }
    
    public static void Main()
    {
        Thread t = new Thread(new ThreadStart(DoSomething));
        
        t.Start();
        DoSomething(); // at this point, two instances of DoSomething are running at the same time.
    }
}

The parameter to the lock statement must be an object reference, not a value type:

class LockDemo2
{
    private int number;
    private object obj = new object();
    
    public void DoSomething()
    {
        lock (this) // ok
        {
            ...
        }
        
        lock (number) // not ok, number is not a reference
        {
            ...
        }
        
        lock (obj) // ok, obj is a reference
        {
            ...
        }
    }
}



C# Keywords
abstract as base bool break
byte case catch char checked
class const continue decimal default
delegate do double else enum
event explicit extern false finally
fixed float for foreach goto
if implicit in int interface
internal is lock long namespace
new null object operator out
override params private protected public
readonly ref return sbyte sealed
short sizeof stackalloc static string
struct switch this throw true
try typeof uint ulong unchecked
unsafe ushort using var virtual
void volatile while
Special C# Identifiers (Contextual Keywords)
add alias async await dynamic
get global nameof partial remove
set value when where yield
Contextual Keywords (Used in Queries)
ascending by descending equals from
group in into join let
on orderby select where