Simple synchronization functions for Swift, wrapping the Cocoa NSLocking classes

locking.swift

import Foundation

/// Protocol for NSLocking objects that also provide try()
public protocol TryLockable: NSLocking {
    func `try`() -> Bool
}

// These Cocoa classes have tryLock()
extension NSLock: TryLockable {}
extension NSRecursiveLock: TryLockable {}
extension NSConditionLock: TryLockable {}


/// Protocol for NSLocking objects that also provide lock(before limit: Date)
public protocol BeforeDateLockable: NSLocking {
    func lock(before limit: Date) -> Bool
}

// These Cocoa classes have lockBeforeDate()
extension NSLock: BeforeDateLockable {}
extension NSRecursiveLock: BeforeDateLockable {}
extension NSConditionLock: BeforeDateLockable {}


/// Use an NSLocking object as a mutex for a critical section of code
public func synchronized<L: NSLocking>(lockable: L, criticalSection: () -> ()) {
    lockable.lock()
    criticalSection()
    lockable.unlock()
}

/// Use an NSLocking object as a mutex for a critical section of code that returns a result
public func synchronizedResult<L: NSLocking, T>(lockable: L, criticalSection: () -> T) -> T {
    lockable.lock()
    let result = criticalSection()
    lockable.unlock()
    return result
}

/// Use a TryLockable object as a mutex for a critical section of code
///
/// Return true if the critical section was executed, or false if tryLock() failed
public func trySynchronized<L: TryLockable>(lockable: L, criticalSection: () -> ()) -> Bool {
    if !lockable.try() {
        return false
    }
    criticalSection()
    lockable.unlock()
    return true
}

/// Use a BeforeDateLockable object as a mutex for a critical section of code
///
/// Return true if the critical section was executed, or false if lockBeforeDate() failed
public func synchronizedBeforeDate<L: BeforeDateLockable>(limit: Date, lockable: L, criticalSection: () -> ()) -> Bool {
    if !lockable.lock(before: limit) {
        return false
    }
    criticalSection()
    lockable.unlock()
    return true
}

Updated for Swift 3

Hi, what would be the best function to use.. for a case where I need to lock a property variable from been written when someone else is reading it ?

I have a timer that pushes a CVPIxelBuffer (self.myPB) to a streaming library, but its giving a EXC_BAD_ACCESS. I belive is because self.myPB gets rewritten by a closure. So someone else is rewriting self.myPB while the timer triggers and tries to append the pixelbuffer to the library.