When implementing multithreaded software, which is preferable: using structures or classes?

In iOS development, the choice between structures (struct) and classes (class) in multithreaded programming depends on their behavior:

• Structures are value types, copied when passed, making them safer in a multithreaded environment since each thread works with its own copy of the data.

• Classes are reference types, whose objects are shared between threads, requiring additional synchronization to prevent data races.

Therefore, if the data is small and does not require inheritance, it is preferable to use structures to simplify thread safety. If an object-oriented model with inheritance and shared state is needed, classes are used, but with synchronization mechanisms (e.g., GCD, NSLock).

Example:

struct DataModel {
    var value: Int
}

// In multithreaded code, each thread will get its own copy of DataModel

Thus, for multithreaded software, structures are preferable if possible.