I was reading the following article: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc817398.aspx "Solving 11 Likely Problems In Your Multithreaded Code" by Joe Duffy

And it raised me a question: "We need to lock a .NET Int32 when reading it in a multithreaded code?"

I understand that if it was an Int64 in a 32-bit SO it could tear, as it is explained in the article. But for Int32 I imagined the following situation:

class Test
{
  private int example = 0;
  private Object thisLock = new Object();

  public void Add(int another)
  {
    lock(thisLock)
    {
      example += another;
    }
  }

  public int Read()
  {
     return example;
  }
}

I don't see a reason to include a lock in the Read method. Do you?

Update Based on the answers (by Jon Skeet and ctacke) I understand that the code above still vulnerable to multiprocessor caching (each processor has its own cache, unsynchronized with others). All the three modifications bellow fix the problem:

  1. Adding to "int example" the "volatile" property
  2. Inserting a Thread.MemoryBarrier(); before the actual reading of "int example"
  3. Read "int example" inside a "lock(thisLock)"

And I also think that "volatile" is the most elegant solution.

Edit
Report