Java – How to conditionally lock in Java

javalockingsynchronized

I have been making use of Java's synchronized blocks to make parts of my code thread safe. I am porting a data structure to java that can usually use synchronized blocks, but I don't always know how to use them in a typical Java way.

Here is an example of one scenario:

myMethod (Bool useLock)
    {
    if (useLock)
        {
        //locks the following section of code until unlocked.
        lockObject.lock();
        }

     //do more stuff....

    if (useLock)
        {
        //unlocks exclusive control of code.
        lockObject.unlock();
        }
     }

How do I do an equivalent of this in Java? In this code sometimes I want to lock and sometimes I don't, but I want to be smart about it and not have to write two versions of the same code. Are there other ways of locking in Java other than using synchronized blocks?

Best Answer

You can use Lock objects, ReentrantLock in particular should do the work. http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/concurrency/newlocks.html

Or you can still solve the issue with synchronized blocks. The code from your question will look like:

myMethod (Bool useLock) {
    if (useLock) {
        synchronized (this) {
           criticalSection();
        }
    } else {
        criticalSection();
    }
}

criticalSection() {
   //do more stuff....
}

Or if you want to guarantee the mutual exclusion among different instances of the class you should use other monitor object than this. For instance TheClassName.class or other explicitly defined static variable of that class.

Related Solutions

Java – What are the differences between a HashMap and a Hashtable in Java

There are several differences between HashMap and Hashtable in Java:

Hashtable is synchronized, whereas HashMap is not. This makes HashMap better for non-threaded applications, as unsynchronized Objects typically perform better than synchronized ones.
Hashtable does not allow null keys or values. HashMap allows one null key and any number of null values.
One of HashMap's subclasses is LinkedHashMap, so in the event that you'd want predictable iteration order (which is insertion order by default), you could easily swap out the HashMap for a LinkedHashMap. This wouldn't be as easy if you were using Hashtable.

Since synchronization is not an issue for you, I'd recommend HashMap. If synchronization becomes an issue, you may also look at ConcurrentHashMap.

Java – Is Java “pass-by-reference” or “pass-by-value”

Java is always pass-by-value. Unfortunately, when we deal with objects we are really dealing with object-handles called references which are passed-by-value as well. This terminology and semantics easily confuse many beginners.

It goes like this:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog aDog = new Dog("Max");
    Dog oldDog = aDog;

    // we pass the object to foo
    foo(aDog);
    // aDog variable is still pointing to the "Max" dog when foo(...) returns
    aDog.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    aDog.getName().equals("Fifi"); // false
    aDog == oldDog; // true
}

public static void foo(Dog d) {
    d.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    // change d inside of foo() to point to a new Dog instance "Fifi"
    d = new Dog("Fifi");
    d.getName().equals("Fifi"); // true
}

In the example above aDog.getName() will still return "Max". The value aDog within main is not changed in the function foo with the Dog "Fifi" as the object reference is passed by value. If it were passed by reference, then the aDog.getName() in main would return "Fifi" after the call to foo.

Likewise:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog aDog = new Dog("Max");
    Dog oldDog = aDog;

    foo(aDog);
    // when foo(...) returns, the name of the dog has been changed to "Fifi"
    aDog.getName().equals("Fifi"); // true
    // but it is still the same dog:
    aDog == oldDog; // true
}

public static void foo(Dog d) {
    d.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    // this changes the name of d to be "Fifi"
    d.setName("Fifi");
}

In the above example, Fifi is the dog's name after call to foo(aDog) because the object's name was set inside of foo(...). Any operations that foo performs on d are such that, for all practical purposes, they are performed on aDog, but it is not possible to change the value of the variable aDog itself.

For more information on pass by reference and pass by value, consult the following SO answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/430958/6005228. This explains more thoroughly the semantics and history behind the two and also explains why Java and many other modern languages appear to do both in certain cases.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Java – What are the differences between a HashMap and a Hashtable in Java

Java – Is Java “pass-by-reference” or “pass-by-value”

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