How would you simplify Entering and Exiting a ReaderWriterLock?

Question

This seems very noisy to me. Five lines of overhead is just too much.

m_Lock.EnterReadLock()
Try
    Return m_List.Count
Finally
    m_Lock.ExitReadLock()
End Try

So how would you simply this?

Answer 1

I was thinking the same, but in C# ;-p

using System;
using System.Threading;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        ReaderWriterLockSlim sync = new ReaderWriterLockSlim();

        using (sync.Read())
        {
           // etc    
        }
    }


}
public static class ReaderWriterExt
{
    sealed class ReadLockToken : IDisposable
    {
        private ReaderWriterLockSlim sync;
        public ReadLockToken(ReaderWriterLockSlim sync)
        {
            this.sync = sync;
            sync.EnterReadLock();
        }
        public void Dispose()
        {
            if (sync != null)
            {
                sync.ExitReadLock();
                sync = null;
            }
        }
    }
    public static IDisposable Read(this ReaderWriterLockSlim obj)
    {
        return new ReadLockToken(obj);
    }
}

Answer 2

All the solutions posted so far are at risk of deadlock. A using block like this:

ReaderWriterLockSlim sync = new ReaderWriterLockSlim();
using (sync.Read())
{
  // Do stuff
}

gets converted into something like this:

ReaderWriterLockSlim sync = new ReaderWriterLockSlim();
IDisposable d = sync.Read();
try
{
  // Do stuff
}
finally
{
  d.Dispose();
}

This means that a ThreadAbortException (or similar) could happen between sync.Read() and the try block. When this happens the finally block never gets called, and the lock is never released!

For more information, and a better implementation see: Deadlock with ReaderWriterLockSlim and other lock objects

Also, from Joe Duffy's Blog

Next, the lock is not robust to asynchronous exceptions such as thread aborts and out of memory conditions. If one of these occurs while in the middle of one of the lock’s methods, the lock state can be corrupt, causing subsequent deadlocks, unhandled exceptions, and (sadly) due to the use of spin locks internally, a pegged 100% CPU. So if you’re going to be running your code in an environment that regularly uses thread aborts or attempts to survive hard OOMs, you’re not going to be happy with this lock.

Answer 3

This is not my invention but it certainly has made by hair a little less gray.

internal static class ReaderWriteLockExtensions
{
    private struct Disposable : IDisposable
    {
        private readonly Action m_action;
        private Sentinel m_sentinel;

        public Disposable(Action action)
        {
            m_action = action;
            m_sentinel = new Sentinel();
        }

        public void Dispose()
        {
            m_action();
            GC.SuppressFinalize(m_sentinel);
        }
    }

    private class Sentinel
    {
        ~Sentinel()
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException("Lock not properly disposed.");
        }
    }

    public static IDisposable AcquireReadLock(this ReaderWriterLockSlim lock)
    {
        lock.EnterReadLock();
        return new Disposable(lock.ExitReadLock);
    }

    public static IDisposable AcquireUpgradableReadLock(this ReaderWriterLockSlim lock)
    {
        lock.EnterUpgradeableReadLock();
        return new Disposable(lock.ExitUpgradeableReadLock);
    }

    public static IDisposable AcquireWriteLock(this ReaderWriterLockSlim lock)
    {
        lock.EnterWriteLock();
        return new Disposable(lock.ExitWriteLock);
    }
} 

How to use:

using (m_lock.AcquireReadLock())
{
    // Do stuff
}

Answer 4

I ended up doing this, but I'm still open to better ways or flaws in my design.

Using m_Lock.ReadSection
    Return m_List.Count
End Using

This uses this extension method/class:

<Extension()> Public Function ReadSection(ByVal lock As ReaderWriterLockSlim) As ReadWrapper
    Return New ReadWrapper(lock)
End Function


Public NotInheritable Class ReadWrapper
    Implements IDisposable

    Private m_Lock As ReaderWriterLockSlim
    Public Sub New(ByVal lock As ReaderWriterLockSlim)
        m_Lock = lock
        m_Lock.EnterReadLock()
    End Sub
    Public Sub Dispose() Implements IDisposable.Dispose
        m_Lock.ExitReadLock()
    End Sub

End Class

Answer 5

Since the point of a lock is to protect some piece of memory, I think it would be useful to wrap that memory in a "Locked" object, and only make it accessble through the various lock tokens (as mentioned by Mark):

// Stores a private List<T>, only accessible through lock tokens
//  returned by Read, Write, and UpgradableRead.
var lockedList = new LockedList<T>( );

using( var r = lockedList.Read( ) ) {
  foreach( T item in r.Reader )
    ...
}

using( var w = lockedList.Write( ) ) {
  w.Writer.Add( new T( ) );
}

T t = ...;
using( var u = lockedList.UpgradableRead( ) ) {
  if( !u.Reader.Contains( t ) )
    using( var w = u.Upgrade( ) )
      w.Writer.Add( t );
}

Now the only way to access the internal list is by calling the appropriate accessor.

This works particularly well for List<T>, since it already has the ReadOnlyCollection<T> wrapper. For other types, you could always create a Locked<T,T>, but then you lose out on the nice readable/writable type distinction.

One improvement might be to define the R and W types as disposable wrappers themselves, which would protected against (inadvertant) errors like:

List<T> list;
using( var w = lockedList.Write( ) )
  list = w.Writable;

//BAD: "locked" object leaked outside of lock scope
list.MakeChangesWithoutHoldingLock( );

However, this would make Locked more complicated to use, and the current version does gives you the same protection you have when manually locking a shared member.

---

sealed class LockedList<T> : Locked<List<T>, ReadOnlyCollection<T>> {
  public LockedList( )
    : base( new List<T>( ), list => list.AsReadOnly( ) )
  { }
}

public class Locked<W, R> where W : class where R : class {
  private readonly LockerState state_;
  public Locked( W writer, R reader ) { this.state_ = new LockerState( reader, writer ); }
  public Locked( W writer, Func<W, R> getReader ) : this( writer, getReader( writer ) ) { }

  public IReadable Read( ) { return new Readable( this.state_ ); }
  public IWritable Write( ) { return new Writable( this.state_ ); }
  public IUpgradable UpgradableRead( ) { return new Upgradable( this.state_ ); }


  public interface IReadable : IDisposable { R Reader { get; } }
  public interface IWritable : IDisposable { W Writer { get; } }
  public interface IUpgradable : IReadable { IWritable Upgrade( );}


  #region Private Implementation Details
  sealed class LockerState {
    public readonly R Reader;
    public readonly W Writer;
    public readonly ReaderWriterLockSlim Sync;

    public LockerState( R reader, W writer ) {
      Debug.Assert( reader != null && writer != null );
      this.Reader = reader;
      this.Writer = writer;
      this.Sync = new ReaderWriterLockSlim( );
    }
  }

  abstract class Accessor : IDisposable {
    private LockerState state_;
    protected LockerState State { get { return this.state_; } }
    protected Accessor( LockerState state ) {
      Debug.Assert( state != null );
      this.Acquire( state.Sync );
      this.state_ = state;
    }

    protected abstract void Acquire( ReaderWriterLockSlim sync );
    protected abstract void Release( ReaderWriterLockSlim sync );

    public void Dispose( ) {
      if( this.state_ != null ) {
        var sync = this.state_.Sync;
        this.state_ = null;
        this.Release( sync );
      }
    }
  }

  class Readable : Accessor, IReadable {
    public Readable( LockerState state ) : base( state ) { }
    public R Reader { get { return this.State.Reader; } }
    protected override void Acquire( ReaderWriterLockSlim sync ) { sync.EnterReadLock( ); }
    protected override void Release( ReaderWriterLockSlim sync ) { sync.ExitReadLock( ); }
  }

  sealed class Writable : Accessor, IWritable {
    public Writable( LockerState state ) : base( state ) { }
    public W Writer { get { return this.State.Writer; } }
    protected override void Acquire( ReaderWriterLockSlim sync ) { sync.EnterWriteLock( ); }
    protected override void Release( ReaderWriterLockSlim sync ) { sync.ExitWriteLock( ); }
  }

  sealed class Upgradable : Readable, IUpgradable {
    public Upgradable( LockerState state ) : base( state ) { }
    public IWritable Upgrade( ) { return new Writable( this.State ); }
    protected override void Acquire( ReaderWriterLockSlim sync ) { sync.EnterUpgradeableReadLock( ); }
    protected override void Release( ReaderWriterLockSlim sync ) { sync.ExitUpgradeableReadLock( ); }
  }
  #endregion
}