What is mutex and semaphore in Java ? What is the main difference?

Question

What is mutex and semaphore in Java ? What is the main difference ?

Answer 1

Semaphore can be counted, while mutex can only count to 1.

Suppose you have a thread running which accepts client connections. This thread can handle 10 clients simultaneously. Then each new client sets the semaphore until it reaches 10. When the Semaphore has 10 flags, then your thread won't accept new connections

Mutex are usually used for guarding stuff. Suppose your 10 clients can access multiple parts of the system. Then you can protect a part of the system with a mutex so when 1 client is connected to that sub-system, no one else should have access. You can use a Semaphore for this purpose too. A mutex is a "Mutual Exclusion Semaphore".