Difference between Locks, Mutex and Critical Sections

Question

There is an existing question regarding difference between Mutex and Critical section but it does not deal with Locks also.

So i want to know whether Critical sections can be used for thread synchronisation between processes.

Also what is meant by signalled states and non-signalled states

Answer 1

In Windows critical sections are (mostly) implemented in user mode, and a mutex will switch context to kernel mode (which is slow). If a thread terminates while owning a mutex, the mutex is said to be abandoned. The state of the mutex is set to signaled, and the next waiting thread gets ownership. In the same situation with a critical section all other threads will remain blocked. Critical sections cannot be named so you cannot use them to synchronize several processes.

Answer 2

CriticalSections are in process. Named mutexes can be used across processes

Lock is a general term and as such I wouldn't know which platform you mean. For example in C# a lock primitive is a Critical Section.