What is the difference between lock contention and deadlock?

What is the difference between lock contention and deadlock?

Lock contention occurs when multiple threads compete for the same lock, causing delays. Deadlock, however, is a situation where two or more threads are blocked forever, each waiting for the other to release a lock.

Can you give me an example of lock contention?

Sure! Imagine two threads trying to access a shared resource. If one thread holds a lock and the other tries to acquire it, the second thread will have to wait, leading to lock contention.

What about deadlock? How does it happen?

Deadlock happens when two threads hold locks that the other needs to proceed. For example, Thread A holds Lock 1 and waits for Lock 2, while Thread B holds Lock 2 and waits for Lock 1, causing a standstill.

How can we prevent deadlock in our applications?

To prevent deadlock, you can use strategies like lock ordering, timeout mechanisms, or implementing a deadlock detection algorithm.