C# in a Nutshell

Name

Monitor

Synopsis

This class contains static methods for thread communication and synchronization. The Enter() and Exit() methods allow you to obtain and release a lock on an object, respectively. If an object lock has already been obtained by another thread, Enter() blocks and resumes executing when the lock is released.

Various languages have the ability to silently emit calls on this type as language built-in primitives. C#’s lock{} syntax translates into these two methods: the beginning of the lock block is transformed into a call to Enter(), and the close of the block calls Exit(). (In the presence of exceptions and return calls, the C# compiler must ensure the release of the monitor regardless of how the code exits the lock block.)

TryEnter() attempts to obtain an object lock, but it continues executing and returns false if unsuccessful. Wait() releases an object lock and causes the current thread to wait until another thread calls Pulse() or PulseAll() on the same object. Wait() must be executed from a synchronized block of code.

public sealed class Monitor {
// Public Static Methods
   public static method void Enter(object obj);  
   public static method void Exit(object obj);  
   public static method void Pulse(object obj);  
   public static method void PulseAll(object obj);  
   public static method bool TryEnter(object obj);  
   public static method bool TryEnter(object obj, 
        int millisecondsTimeout);  
   public static method bool TryEnter(object obj, 
        TimeSpan timeout); public static method ...