Programming .NET Components, 2nd Edition

Framework-Specific Guidelines

Multithreading

1. Use synchronization domains. Avoid manual synchronization, because that often leads to deadlocks and race conditions.

2. Never call outside your synchronization domain.

3. Manage asynchronous call completion on a callback method. Do not wait, poll, or block for completion.

4. Always name your threads:

   Thread currentThread = Thread.CurrentThread;
   string threadName = "Main UI Thread";
   currentThread.Name = threadName;

   The name is traced in the debugger Threads window, making debug sessions more productive.

5. Do not call Suspend() or Resume() on a thread.

6. Do not call Thread.Sleep(), except in the following conditions:

   1. Thread.Sleep(0) is an acceptable optimization technique to force a context switch.

   2. Thread.Sleep() is acceptable in testing or simulation code.

7. Do not call Thread.SpinWait().

8. Do not call Thread.Abort() to terminate threads. Use a synchronization object instead to signal the thread to terminate.

9. Avoid explicitly setting the thread priority to control execution. You can set the thread priority based on task semantics (such as ThreadPriority.BelowNormal for a screensaver).

10. Do not read the value of the ThreadState property. Use Thread.IsAlive() to determine whether the thread is dead or alive.

11. Do not rely on setting the thread type to background thread for application shutdown. Use a watchdog or other monitoring entity to deterministically kill threads.

12. Do not use the thread local storage unless thread affinity is guaranteed.

13. Do not call Thread.MemoryBarrier() ...