Reputation: 5563
Let's say I hypothetically call a dispatch_sync from a concurrent queue - does it block the entire queue or just that thread of execution?
Upvotes: 4
Views: 1339
Reputation: 311
dispatch_sync will block the caller thread until execution completes, a concurrent queue has multiple threads so it will only block one of those on that queue, the other threads will still execute.
Here is what Apple says about this:
Submits a block to a dispatch queue for synchronous execution. Unlike dispatch_async, this function does not return until the block has finished. Calling this function and targeting the current queue results in deadlock.
Unlike with dispatch_async, no retain is performed on the target queue. Because calls to this function are synchronous, it "borrows" the reference of the caller. Moreover, no Block_copy is performed on the block.
As an optimization, this function invokes the block on the current thread when possible.
Upvotes: 5