What are locks in Python and how do they work?

What are locks in Python and how do they work?

Locks in Python are synchronization primitives that help manage access to shared resources in concurrent programming.

Can you explain how to use a lock in a threading example?

Sure! You can use the threading.Lock class to create a lock. Here's a simple example:

import threading

lock = threading.Lock()

def thread_function():
    with lock:
        # critical section of code
        print('Lock acquired!')

This ensures that only one thread can execute the critical section at a time.

What happens if a thread tries to acquire a lock that is already held?

If a thread tries to acquire a lock that is already held by another thread, it will block and wait until the lock is released.

Are there any potential issues with using locks?

Yes, potential issues include deadlocks, where two or more threads are waiting on each other to release locks, and performance bottlenecks if locks are overused.