What is a thread-safe class?

A thread-safe class is a class that is designed to be safely used by multiple threads concurrently without causing any unexpected or incorrect behavior. In other words, it ensures that the class's methods and operations can be safely accessed and executed by multiple threads simultaneously without any race conditions or data inconsistencies.

To achieve thread safety, a thread-safe class typically incorporates synchronization mechanisms such as locks, mutexes, or atomic operations to control access to shared resources or critical sections of code. These mechanisms ensure that only one thread can access the shared resource at a time, preventing any conflicts or data corruption.

Additionally, a thread-safe class may also use techniques like immutability or thread-local storage to further enhance its thread safety. Immutability ensures that once an object is created, its state cannot be modified, eliminating the need for synchronization. Thread-local storage allows each thread to have its own copy of a variable, avoiding any contention between threads.

Overall, a thread-safe class provides a reliable and consistent behavior when accessed by multiple threads, ensuring that the desired functionality is achieved without any unexpected issues or data inconsistencies.