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What does "semaphore" mean in programming?
semaphore is one of the most common terms in software development. This guide explains what it means, how it is used in practice, and why it matters, with real examples from the developer world.
Definition
A synchronization primitive that controls access to a shared resource by maintaining a counter. Unlike a mutex (which allows only one thread), a semaphore allows up to N threads to access the resource concurrently. When the counter reaches zero, additional threads must wait.
Example
"We use a semaphore with a count of 10 to limit concurrent database connections to the pool maximum."
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