Final answer:
A spinlock is a synchronization mechanism used in computing where a process waits in a loop (busy waiting) for a lock variable to become available.
Step-by-step explanation:
A spinlock is a mutual exclusion mechanism in which a process executes in an infinite loop waiting for the value of a lock variable to indicate availability. When a process wishes to acquire the lock, it continuously checks the lock variable until it is free, at which point the process can proceed with its critical section. This type of lock is efficient in scenarios where the wait time is expected to be very short since it avoids the overhead of operating system process re-scheduling.
However, spinlocks can be inefficient and waste CPU resources if a process is held for a longer time, making other synchronization mechanisms more suitable in those cases.
A spinlock is characterized by a process of continually "spinning" in a loop, repeatedly checking the lock variable to determine if it can acquire the lock and proceed with its critical section. This mechanism is simple but may lead to resource wastage due to the continuous spinning while waiting for the lock to be released.