Interlocked Class (System.Threading)

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Microsoft Visual Studio 2005/.NET Framework 2.0

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.NET Framework Class Library

Interlocked Class

Provides atomic operations for variables that are shared by multiple threads.

Namespace: System.Threading
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

Public NotInheritable Class Interlocked

Visual Basic (Usage)

The members of a static class are accessed directly without an instance of the class.

public static class Interlocked

C++

public ref class Interlocked abstract sealed

public final class Interlocked

JScript

public final class Interlocked

Remarks

The methods of this class help protect against errors that can occur when the scheduler switches contexts while a thread is updating a variable that can be accessed by other threads, or when two threads are executing concurrently on separate processors. The members of this class do not throw exceptions.

The Increment and Decrement methods increment or decrement a variable and store the resulting value in a single operation. On most computers, incrementing a variable is not an atomic operation, requiring the following steps:

Load a value from an instance variable into a register.
Increment or decrement the value.
Store the value in the instance variable.

If you do not use Increment and Decrement, a thread can be preempted after executing the first two steps. Another thread can then execute all three steps. When the first thread resumes execution, it overwrites the value in the instance variable, and the effect of the increment or decrement performed by the second thread is lost.

The Exchange method atomically exchanges the values of the specified variables. The CompareExchange method combines two operations: comparing two values and storing a third value in one of the variables, based on the outcome of the comparison. The compare and exchange operations are performed as an atomic operation.

Example

The following code example shows a thread-safe resource locking mechanism.

Visual Basic

Imports System
Imports System.Threading

Namespace InterlockedExchange_Example
    Class MyInterlockedExchangeExampleClass
        '0 for false, 1 for true.
        Private Shared usingResource As Integer = 0

        Private Shared currentMso As [Object]
        Private Shared globalMso As New [Object]()
        Private Const numThreadIterations As Integer = 5
        Private Const numThreads As Integer = 10

        <MTAThread> _
        Shared Sub Main()
            Dim myThread As Thread
            Dim rnd As New Random()

            Dim i As Integer
            For i = 0 To numThreads - 1
                myThread = New Thread(AddressOf MyThreadProc)
                myThread.Name = [String].Format("Thread{0}", i + 1)

                'Wait a random amount of time before starting next thread.
                Thread.Sleep(rnd.Next(0, 1000))
                myThread.Start()
            Next i
        End Sub 'Main

        Private Shared Sub MyThreadProc()
            Dim i As Integer
            For i = 0 To numThreadIterations - 1
                UseResource()

                'Wait 1 second before next attempt.
                Thread.Sleep(1000)
            Next i
        End Sub 'MyThreadProc

        'A simple method that denies reentrancy.
        Shared Function UseResource() As Boolean
            '0 indicates that the method is not in use.
            If 0 = Interlocked.Exchange(usingResource, 1) Then
                Console.WriteLine("{0} acquired the lock", Thread.CurrentThread.Name)

                'Code to access a resource that is not thread safe would go here.
                'Simulate some work
                Thread.Sleep(500)

                Console.WriteLine("{0} exiting lock", Thread.CurrentThread.Name)

                'Release the lock
                Interlocked.Exchange(usingResource, 0)
                Return True
            Else
                Console.WriteLine("   {0} was denied the lock", Thread.CurrentThread.Name)
                Return False
            End If
        End Function 'UseResource
    End Class 'MyInterlockedExchangeExampleClass 
End Namespace 'InterlockedExchange_Example

using System;
using System.Threading;

namespace InterlockedExchange_Example
{
    class MyInterlockedExchangeExampleClass
    {
        //0 for false, 1 for true.
        private static int usingResource = 0;

        private static Object currentMso;
        private static Object globalMso = new Object();
        private const int numThreadIterations = 5;
        private const int numThreads = 10;

        static void Main()
        {
            Thread myThread;
            Random rnd = new Random();

            for(int i = 0; i < numThreads; i++)
            {
                myThread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(MyThreadProc));
                myThread.Name = String.Format("Thread{0}", i + 1);
            
                //Wait a random amount of time before starting next thread.
                Thread.Sleep(rnd.Next(0, 1000));
                myThread.Start();
            }
        }

        private static void MyThreadProc()
        {
            for(int i = 0; i < numThreadIterations; i++)
            {
                UseResource();
            
                //Wait 1 second before next attempt.
                Thread.Sleep(1000);
            }
        }

        //A simple method that denies reentrancy.
        static bool UseResource()
        {
            //0 indicates that the method is not in use.
            if(0 == Interlocked.Exchange(ref usingResource, 1))
            {
                Console.WriteLine("{0} acquired the lock", Thread.CurrentThread.Name);
            
                //Code to access a resource that is not thread safe would go here.
            
                //Simulate some work
                Thread.Sleep(500);

                Console.WriteLine("{0} exiting lock", Thread.CurrentThread.Name);
            
                //Release the lock
                Interlocked.Exchange(ref usingResource, 0);
                return true;
            }
            else
            {
                Console.WriteLine("   {0} was denied the lock", Thread.CurrentThread.Name);
                return false;
            }
        }

    }
}

C++

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Threading;
const int numThreads = 10;
const int numThreadIterations = 5;
ref class MyInterlockedExchangeExampleClass
{
public:
   static void MyThreadProc()
   {
      for ( int i = 0; i < numThreadIterations; i++ )
      {
         UseResource();
         
         //Wait 1 second before next attempt.
         Thread::Sleep( 1000 );

      }
   }


private:

   //A simple method that denies reentrancy.
   static bool UseResource()
   {
      
      //0 indicates that the method is not in use.
      if ( 0 == Interlocked::Exchange( usingResource, 1 ) )
      {
         Console::WriteLine( " {0} acquired the lock", Thread::CurrentThread->Name );
         
         //Code to access a resource that is not thread safe would go here.
         //Simulate some work
         Thread::Sleep( 500 );
         Console::WriteLine( " {0} exiting lock", Thread::CurrentThread->Name );
         
         //Release the lock
         Interlocked::Exchange( usingResource, 0 );
         return true;
      }
      else
      {
         Console::WriteLine( " {0} was denied the lock", Thread::CurrentThread->Name );
         return false;
      }
   }


   //0 for false, 1 for true.
   static int usingResource;
   static Object^ globalMso = gcnew Object;
};

int main()
{
   Thread^ myThread;
   Random^ rnd = gcnew Random;
   for ( int i = 0; i < numThreads; i++ )
   {
      myThread = gcnew Thread( gcnew ThreadStart( MyInterlockedExchangeExampleClass::MyThreadProc ) );
      myThread->Name = String::Format( "Thread {0}", i + 1 );
      
      //Wait a random amount of time before starting next thread.
      Thread::Sleep( rnd->Next( 0, 1000 ) );
      myThread->Start();

   }
}

package InterlockedExchange_Example ; 

import System .* ;
import System.Threading .* ;
import System.Threading.Thread;

class MyInterlockedExchangeExampleClass
{
    //0 for false, 1 for true.
    private static int usingResource = 0;
    private static Object currentMso;
    private static Object globalMso = new Object();
    private static int numThreadIterations = 5;
    private static int numThreads = 10;

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        Thread myThread;
        Random rnd = new Random();

        for (int i = 0; i < numThreads; i++) {
            myThread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(MyThreadProc));
            myThread.set_Name(String.Format("Thread{0}",
                String.valueOf(i + 1)));

            //Wait a random amount of time before starting next thread.
            Thread.Sleep(rnd.Next(0, 1000));
            myThread.Start();
        }
    } //main

    private static void MyThreadProc()
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < numThreadIterations; i++) {
            UseResource();

            //Wait 1 second before next attempt.
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
        }
    } //MyThreadProc

    //A simple method that denies reentrancy.
    static boolean UseResource()
    {
        //0 indicates that the method is not in use.
        if (0 == Interlocked.Exchange(usingResource, 1)) {
            Console.WriteLine("{0} acquired the lock",
                Thread.get_CurrentThread().get_Name());

            //Code to access a resource that is not thread safe would go here.
            //Simulate some work
            Thread.Sleep(500);
            Console.WriteLine("{0} exiting lock", 
                Thread.get_CurrentThread().get_Name());

            //Release the lock
            Interlocked.Exchange(usingResource, 0);
            return true;
        }
        else {
            Console.WriteLine("   {0} was denied the lock", 
                Thread.get_CurrentThread().get_Name());
            return false;
        }
    } //UseResource
} //MyInterlockedExchangeExampleClass

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
System.Threading.Interlocked

Thread Safety

This type is thread safe.

Platforms

Windows 98, Windows 2000 SP4, Windows CE, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Starter Edition

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see System Requirements.

Version Information