What is a race condition and how can it be prevented?

A race condition occurs when multiple threads/processes access shared data concurrently, and the final result depends on the timing of their execution. This leads to unpredictable behavior and bugs. Prevention methods: Mutual exclusion using locks/mutexes, Semaphores for resource counting, Atomic operations for simple operations, Proper synchronization with condition variables, Avoiding shared mutable state, Using thread-safe data structures. Critical sections must be protected.