| /* |
| * Written by Doug Lea with assistance from members of JCP JSR-166 |
| * Expert Group and released to the public domain, as explained at |
| * http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain |
| */ |
| |
| /** |
| * A small toolkit of classes that support lock-free thread-safe |
| * programming on single variables. In essence, the classes in this |
| * package extend the notion of {@code volatile} values, fields, and |
| * array elements to those that also provide an atomic conditional update |
| * operation of the form: |
| * |
| * <pre> |
| * boolean compareAndSet(expectedValue, updateValue); |
| * </pre> |
| * |
| * <p>This method (which varies in argument types across different |
| * classes) atomically sets a variable to the {@code updateValue} if it |
| * currently holds the {@code expectedValue}, reporting {@code true} on |
| * success. The classes in this package also contain methods to get and |
| * unconditionally set values, as well as a weaker conditional atomic |
| * update operation {@code weakCompareAndSet} described below. |
| * |
| * <p>The specifications of these methods enable implementations to |
| * employ efficient machine-level atomic instructions that are available |
| * on contemporary processors. However on some platforms, support may |
| * entail some form of internal locking. Thus the methods are not |
| * strictly guaranteed to be non-blocking -- |
| * a thread may block transiently before performing the operation. |
| * |
| * <p>Instances of classes |
| * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean}, |
| * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger}, |
| * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong}, and |
| * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference} |
| * each provide access and updates to a single variable of the |
| * corresponding type. Each class also provides appropriate utility |
| * methods for that type. For example, classes {@code AtomicLong} and |
| * {@code AtomicInteger} provide atomic increment methods. One |
| * application is to generate sequence numbers, as in: |
| * |
| * <pre> |
| * class Sequencer { |
| * private final AtomicLong sequenceNumber |
| * = new AtomicLong(0); |
| * public long next() { |
| * return sequenceNumber.getAndIncrement(); |
| * } |
| * } |
| * </pre> |
| * |
| * <p>The memory effects for accesses and updates of atomics generally |
| * follow the rules for volatiles, as stated in |
| * <a href="http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/"> The Java Language |
| * Specification, Third Edition (17.4 Memory Model)</a>: |
| * |
| * <ul> |
| * |
| * <li> {@code get} has the memory effects of reading a |
| * {@code volatile} variable. |
| * |
| * <li> {@code set} has the memory effects of writing (assigning) a |
| * {@code volatile} variable. |
| * |
| * <li>{@code weakCompareAndSet} atomically reads and conditionally |
| * writes a variable but does <em>not</em> |
| * create any happens-before orderings, so provides no guarantees |
| * with respect to previous or subsequent reads and writes of any |
| * variables other than the target of the {@code weakCompareAndSet}. |
| * |
| * <li> {@code compareAndSet} |
| * and all other read-and-update operations such as {@code getAndIncrement} |
| * have the memory effects of both reading and |
| * writing {@code volatile} variables. |
| * </ul> |
| * |
| * <p>In addition to classes representing single values, this package |
| * contains <em>Updater</em> classes that can be used to obtain |
| * {@code compareAndSet} operations on any selected {@code volatile} |
| * field of any selected class. |
| * |
| * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater}, |
| * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicIntegerFieldUpdater}, and |
| * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLongFieldUpdater} are |
| * reflection-based utilities that provide access to the associated |
| * field types. These are mainly of use in atomic data structures in |
| * which several {@code volatile} fields of the same node (for |
| * example, the links of a tree node) are independently subject to |
| * atomic updates. These classes enable greater flexibility in how |
| * and when to use atomic updates, at the expense of more awkward |
| * reflection-based setup, less convenient usage, and weaker |
| * guarantees. |
| * |
| * <p>The |
| * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicIntegerArray}, |
| * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLongArray}, and |
| * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReferenceArray} classes |
| * further extend atomic operation support to arrays of these types. |
| * These classes are also notable in providing {@code volatile} access |
| * semantics for their array elements, which is not supported for |
| * ordinary arrays. |
| * |
| * <a name="Spurious"> |
| * <p>The atomic classes also support method {@code weakCompareAndSet}, |
| * which has limited applicability. On some platforms, the weak version |
| * may be more efficient than {@code compareAndSet} in the normal case, |
| * but differs in that any given invocation of the |
| * {@code weakCompareAndSet} method may return {@code false} |
| * <em>spuriously</em> (that is, for no apparent reason)</a>. A |
| * {@code false} return means only that the operation may be retried if |
| * desired, relying on the guarantee that repeated invocation when the |
| * variable holds {@code expectedValue} and no other thread is also |
| * attempting to set the variable will eventually succeed. (Such |
| * spurious failures may for example be due to memory contention effects |
| * that are unrelated to whether the expected and current values are |
| * equal.) Additionally {@code weakCompareAndSet} does not provide |
| * ordering guarantees that are usually needed for synchronization |
| * control. However, the method may be useful for updating counters and |
| * statistics when such updates are unrelated to the other |
| * happens-before orderings of a program. When a thread sees an update |
| * to an atomic variable caused by a {@code weakCompareAndSet}, it does |
| * not necessarily see updates to any <em>other</em> variables that |
| * occurred before the {@code weakCompareAndSet}. This may be |
| * acceptable when, for example, updating performance statistics, but |
| * rarely otherwise. |
| * |
| * <p>The {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicMarkableReference} |
| * class associates a single boolean with a reference. For example, this |
| * bit might be used inside a data structure to mean that the object |
| * being referenced has logically been deleted. |
| * |
| * The {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicStampedReference} |
| * class associates an integer value with a reference. This may be |
| * used for example, to represent version numbers corresponding to |
| * series of updates. |
| * |
| * <p>Atomic classes are designed primarily as building blocks for |
| * implementing non-blocking data structures and related infrastructure |
| * classes. The {@code compareAndSet} method is not a general |
| * replacement for locking. It applies only when critical updates for an |
| * object are confined to a <em>single</em> variable. |
| * |
| * <p>Atomic classes are not general purpose replacements for |
| * {@code java.lang.Integer} and related classes. They do <em>not</em> |
| * define methods such as {@code hashCode} and |
| * {@code compareTo}. (Because atomic variables are expected to be |
| * mutated, they are poor choices for hash table keys.) Additionally, |
| * classes are provided only for those types that are commonly useful in |
| * intended applications. For example, there is no atomic class for |
| * representing {@code byte}. In those infrequent cases where you would |
| * like to do so, you can use an {@code AtomicInteger} to hold |
| * {@code byte} values, and cast appropriately. |
| * |
| * You can also hold floats using |
| * {@link java.lang.Float#floatToIntBits} and |
| * {@link java.lang.Float#intBitsToFloat} conversions, and doubles using |
| * {@link java.lang.Double#doubleToLongBits} and |
| * {@link java.lang.Double#longBitsToDouble} conversions. |
| * |
| * @since 1.5 |
| */ |
| package java.util.concurrent.atomic; |