An RWMutexLock implements a form of synchronization called mutual exclusion, where the presence of one thread within a protected or critical section of code prohibits the entry of other threads into that section.

A thread must acquire ownership of a mutex prior to entering the section of code protected by the mutex. This is accomplished by calling the acquire() method of the mutex. Once a thread is granted ownership of the mutex, it is allowed to proceed into the protected code. Other threads attempting to enter this same section of code also attempt to acquire ownership of the mutex, but these threads are forced to wait until the current owner exits the protected section of code and releases ownership of the mutex.

A thread relinquishes its ownership of a mutex by calling its release() method.