Semaphores are often used to restrict the number of threads than can access some (physical or logical) resource.
Semaphores are devices used to help with synchronization. If multiple processes share a common resource, they need a way to be able to use that resource without disrupting each other. You want each process to be able to read from and write to that resource uninterrupted.
A semaphore will either allow or disallow access to the resource, depending on how it is set up. One example setup would be a semaphore which allowed any number of processes to read from the resource, but only one could ever be in the process of writing to that resource at a time.
Semaphores are commonly use for two purposes: to share a common memory space and to share access to files. Semaphores are one of the techniques for inter process communication (IPC). The C programming language provides a set of interfaces or “functions” for managing semaphores.
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