Should a return statement be inside or outside a lock?

Question

I just realized that in some place in my code I have the return statement inside the lock and sometime outside. Which one is the best?

1)

void exampl         


        

Answer 1

It doesn't make any difference; they're both translated to the same thing by the compiler.

To clarify, either is effectively translated to something with the following semantics:

T myData;
Monitor.Enter(mutex)
try
{
    myData= // something
}
finally
{
    Monitor.Exit(mutex);
}

return myData;