Question

Does anyone know which of the two locking constructs is faster?
I have:

private static final Object mutex = new Object();

void method() {
    synchronized(mutex) {
        // code
    }
}

vs:

BoundedSemaphore semaphore = new BoundedSemaphore(1);

void method() {
    semaphore.take();

    try{
        //code
    } finally {
        semaphore.release();
    }
}

Thanks, everyone.
Matt

Answer 1

In practice their performance is equivalent. The BoundedSemaphore in your example actually uses intrinsic locking similar to your first example. Thus they wouldn’t vary noticeably.