Are Swift variables atomic?

Question

In Objective-C you have a distinction between atomic and nonatomic properties:

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSObject *nonatomicObject;
@property (atomic, st         


        

Answer 1

Here is the atomic property wrapper that I use extensively. I made the actual locking mechanism a protocol, so I could experiement with different mechanisms. I tried semaphores, DispatchQueues, and the pthread_rwlock_t. The pthread_rwlock_t was chosen because it appears to have the lowest overhead, and a lower chance of a priority inversion.

/// Defines a basic signature that all locks will conform to. Provides the basis for atomic access to stuff.
protocol Lock {
    init()
    /// Lock a resource for writing. So only one thing can write, and nothing else can read or write.
    func writeLock()
    /// Lock a resource for reading. Other things can also lock for reading at the same time, but nothing else can write at that time.
    func readLock()
    /// Unlock a resource
    func unlock()
}

final class PThreadRWLock: Lock {
    private var rwLock = pthread_rwlock_t()

    init() {
        guard pthread_rwlock_init(&rwLock, nil) == 0 else {
            preconditionFailure("Unable to initialize the lock")
        }
    }

    deinit {
        pthread_rwlock_destroy(&rwLock)
    }

    func writeLock() {
        pthread_rwlock_wrlock(&rwLock)
    }

    func readLock() {
        pthread_rwlock_rdlock(&rwLock)
    }

    func unlock() {
        pthread_rwlock_unlock(&rwLock)
    }
}

/// A property wrapper that ensures atomic access to a value. IE only one thing can write at a time.
/// Multiple things can potentially read at the same time, just not during a write.
/// By using `pthread` to do the locking, this safer then using a `DispatchQueue/barrier` as there isn't a chance
/// of priority inversion.
@propertyWrapper
public final class Atomic {

    private var value: Value
    private let lock: Lock = PThreadRWLock()

    public init(wrappedValue value: Value) {
        self.value = value
    }

    public var wrappedValue: Value {
        get {
            self.lock.readLock()
            defer { self.lock.unlock() }
            return self.value
        }
        set {
            self.lock.writeLock()
            self.value = newValue
            self.lock.unlock()
        }
    }

    /// Provides a closure that will be called synchronously. This closure will be passed in the current value
    /// and it is free to modify it. Any modifications will be saved back to the original value.
    /// No other reads/writes will be allowed between when the closure is called and it returns.
    public func mutate(_ closure: (inout Value) -> Void) {
        self.lock.writeLock()
        closure(&value)
        self.lock.unlock()
    }
}