Quick Answer
lock/Monitor: process-local, reentrant, lightweight. Mutex: cross-process named mutex, heavier. Semaphore: limits N concurrent threads. SpinLock: busy-waits instead of blocking — zero context-switch overhead for very short critical sections. ReaderWriterLockSlim: multiple concurrent readers, exclusive write access — great for read-heavy shared data.
Answer
lock/Monitor for lightweight mutual exclusion; Mutex for cross-process locks; Semaphore limits concurrency; SpinLock for low-contention busy waits; ReaderWriterLockSlim for read-heavy workloads. Each has different contention and fairness characteristics.
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Verified Answer
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