The goal of using cursor locks is to ensure separate applications don't interfere with one another. Multiuser database applications encounter concurrency problems whenever several users try to access or update the same information at the same time. Concurrency has to do with separate processes, running at the same time, trying to use the same item. With pessimistic cursor locks, you can temporarily prohibit either read access or changes by other applications. With optimistic cursor locks, you expect no concurrent changes and do not prohibit access or changes by other applications