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Explain Mutex vs RWMutex in the `sync` package.

Updated Apr 28, 2026

Short answer

Mutex enforces exclusive access, while RWMutex allows multiple simultaneous readers or one exclusive writer.

Deep explanation

sync.Mutex locks critical sections so only one goroutine can execute them at a time. sync.RWMutex has RLock() and Lock(). If your workload is read-heavy, RWMutex drastically reduces lock contention because concurrent readers don't block each other. However, if writes are frequent, the overhead of managing read states in RWMutex can make it slower than a standard Mutex.

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