Lock / Mutex to a CS undergraduate (Difficulty 2)

This is a submission for DEV Computer Science Challenge v24.06.12: One Byte Explainer.

Explainer

Locks prevent issues when multiple entities access a resource simultaneously (like multiple apps writing to a file), which can cause unexpected behavior (like overwritten writes). Google Docs uses it to avoid overwritten edits during collaboration.

Additional Context

I am planning to post 5 submissions explaining "Lock/Mutex" at 5 levels of difficulty. This is Difficulty 2.

A Computer Science first year student, probably have not heard of mutex, but might have heard about some problems involving race condition. An explanation that explains what mutex is along with its usage and example is useful.

For more about explaining the term in 5 Levels of difficulty, refer to the below post. It's interesting!

Computer Science challenge, let's make it interesting!!

Saurav Shah ・ Jun 13

#devchallenge #computerscience #discuss #softwareengineering

Previous explanation for Difficulty 1
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Cheers🎉 ~ sauravshah31