I'm new to threads. I wanted to get two threads to increment an integer to a certain value. because int type is immutable, I switched to atomic integer. I also tried to wrap an int to a class and that didn't work either. I also tried static/volatile int and that didn't work. I also tried to use fairness policy. The main issue is that "counterObj" is not incremented correctly and is still set to 0 even though it is injected to both threads.
My expected running behavior:
thread value
thread 0 0
thread 1 1
thread 0 2
...
What I wrote so far:
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
public class Application {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Application app = new Application();
try {
app.launch();
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
private void launch() throws InterruptedException {
int increments = 100;
AtomicInteger counterObj = new AtomicInteger(0);
CounterThread th1 = new CounterThread("1", counterObj, increments);
CounterThread th2 = new CounterThread("2", counterObj, increments);
th1.start();
th2.start();
System.out.println(counterObj.get());
}
}
and
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
public class CounterThread implements Runnable {
private final String threadID;
private AtomicInteger counterObj;
private int bound;
public CounterThread(String threadID, AtomicInteger counter, int bound) {
this.threadID = threadID;
this.counterObj = counter;
this.bound = bound;
}
#Override
public synchronized void run() {
while (counterObj.get() < bound) {
synchronized (this) {
counterObj.incrementAndGet();
}
}
System.out.println("Thread " + threadID + " finished");
}
public void start() throws InterruptedException {
Thread thread = new Thread(this, threadID);
thread.join();
thread.start();
}
}
Cheers!
I think your program is exiting before your threads get a chance to do anything (probably due to the ordering of your starts and joins. I would move your thread starting logic into your main(or launch) method. Something like the following.
Thread thread1 = new Thread(new MyCounterRunnable("1", counterObj, increments));
Thread thread2 = new Thread(new MyCounterRunnable("2", counterObj, increments));
Then, in your main, you need to call join after starting the threads...as follows:
thread1.start(); // starts first thread.
thread2.start(); // starts second thread.
thread1.join(); // don't let main exit until thread 1 is done.
thread2.join(); // don't let main exit until thread 2 is done.
What you really are wanting is for only one thread to increment an int at a time.
The int variable is the resource you want in the synchronized block, so the different threads can increment it one at a time.
This can be done using syncrhonize alone.
Disclaimer: I didn't run the code so it could have some typo or Exceptions to be removed from the Application class.
public class Application {
private int theVar = 0;
private int increments = 100;
public static void main(String[] args) {
Application app = new Application();
try {
app.launch();
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public synchronized addOne(){
this.theVar++;
}
private void launch() throws InterruptedException {
Runnable counter1 = new Counter(this, increments), counter2 = new Counter(this, increments);
Thread t1 = new Thread(counter1);
Thread t2 = new Thread(counter2);
t1.start();
t2.start();
}
}
A counter class
public class Counter implements Runnable{
private Application app;
int rounds = -1;
public Counter(Application app, rounds){
this.app = app;
this.rounds = rounds;
}
public void run(){
while(int i=0; i<rounds; i++){
this.app.addOne();
}
}
}
AtomicInteger takes care of atomicity itself, so you shouldn't need to use synchronized -- but only if you play by the rules, and do your atomic operations in one call.
You're failing to do this, because you call counterObj.get() then depending on the result counterObj.incrementAndGet(). You need to avoid this because you want the check and the update to be part of the same atomic chunk of work.
You can get close with:
while(counterObj.incrementAndGet() < bound) {} ;
But this will always increment at least once, which may be once too many.
Slightly more involved:
IntUnaryOperator incrementWithLimit = x ->
( x < bound ? x + 1 : x );
while(counterObj.updateAndGet(incrementWithLimit) < bound) {};
That is, we've created a function that increments a number only if it's lower than bound, and we tell AtomicInteger to apply that.
There are a couple of issues with your code:
Thread.join method works only if the thread has started, else it does nothing. So you must reorder your code, but if you just move the join method after start, when starting the first thread by calling CounterThread.start, the main thread will wait until the started thread has finished, blocked in the Thread.join method, and only then will continue to starting the second one. A solution is to make an additional method in the CounterThread class, that will be called after both threads have been started:
public void waitFinish() throws InterruptedException {
thread.join();
}
synchronized (this) is synchronizing on the CounterThread instance that has been created when you called new CounterThread(...), but you have two instances so each will be synchronizing on a different object. For synchronized to work, you need to use a common instance of an object, in this case you can use the shared counterObj.
Only the AtomicInteger methods are guaranteed to be thread safe, so after you check if the bound has been reached outside the synchronized block, when entering the synchronized block the value can already be changed by another thread. So you need to do a recheck inside the synchronized block OR to first synchronize on the shared lock(counterObj) before the check and increment.
while (true) {
synchronized (counterObj) {
if (counterObj.get() < bound)
counterObj.incrementAndGet();
else break;
}
}
Note that the AtomicInteger class synchronized methods aren't helping now, but because it is a mutable object, it helps to use it as a shared lock. If you used an Integer instead, being immutable, a new instance will have been created when you incremented it. So now, it's only function is a wrapper holding the integer result.
Putting it all together:
public class Application {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Application app = new Application();
try {
app.launch();
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
private void launch() throws InterruptedException {
int increments = 100;
AtomicInteger counterObj = new AtomicInteger(0);
CounterThread th1 = new CounterThread("1", counterObj, increments);
CounterThread th2 = new CounterThread("2", counterObj, increments);
th1.start();
th2.start();
th1.waitFinish();
th2.waitFinish();
System.out.println(counterObj.get());
}
}
public class CounterThread implements Runnable {
private final String threadID;
private AtomicInteger counterObj;
private int bound;
private Thread thread;
public CounterThread(String threadID, AtomicInteger counter, int bound) {
this.threadID = threadID;
this.counterObj = counter;
this.bound = bound;
}
#Override
public void run() {
while (true) {
synchronized (counterObj) {
if (counterObj.get() < bound)
counterObj.incrementAndGet();
else break;
}
}
System.out.println("Thread " + threadID + " finished");
}
public void start() throws InterruptedException {
thread = new Thread(this, threadID);
thread.start();
}
public void waitFinish() throws InterruptedException {
thread.join();
}
}
I've included a double check on the AtomicInteger, this appears to be what you've been trying to accomplish.
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
public class DualCounters{
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
AtomicInteger i = new AtomicInteger(0);
int bounds = 3;
Thread a = new Thread(()->{
int last = 0;
while(i.get()<bounds){
synchronized(i){
if(i.get()<bounds){
last = i.getAndIncrement();
}
}
}
System.out.println("a last " + last);
});
Thread b = new Thread(()->{
int last = 0;
while(i.get()<bounds){
synchronized(i){
if(i.get()<bounds){
last = i.getAndIncrement();
}
}
}
System.out.println("b last " + last);
});
a.start();
b.start();
a.join();
b.join();
System.out.println(i.get() + " afterwards");
}
}
The double check is a broken concept in java, the AtomicInteger offers tools for accomplishing this without any synchronization.
int a;
while((a = i.getAndIncrement())<bounds){
...
}
Now a will never be greater than bounds inside of the while loop. When the loop is finished i and a could have a value greater than bounds.
If that was an issue, there is always the other method getAndUpdate
while((a = i.getAndUpdate(i->i<bounds?i+1:i)<bounds){
...
}
The following code is confusing me as synchronized key word is not preventing the two threads accessing SafeThread.value at the same time.
While I was running the code, the result is not 20000 as expected.
I also tried to make increment() non static and have the two threads have the same instance of SafeThread. It did not work either. Did I miss anything?
public class MultithreadTesting extends Thread {
public static void main(String[] args) {
MultithreadTesting thread1 = new MultithreadTesting();
MultithreadTesting thread2 = new MultithreadTesting();
thread1.start();
thread2.start();
System.out.println(SafeThread.value);
}
public void run() {
int i = 10000;
while (i > 0) {
SafeThread.increment();
i--;
}
}
}
public class SafeThread {
public static int value = 0;
public synchronized static void increment() {
value++;
}
}
Hey I am trying to make 10 threads in a synchronized manner and I came up with the code below however I am not able to understand a part of it as mentioned below. I am still really new to java, I tried looking up synchronized threading from
Here but still I am clueless.
class question3 {
public static void main(String arg[]) throws Exception {
for (int i = 0; i < 11; i++) {
data di = new data();
System.out.println(di.count);
}
}
}
class item {
static int count = 0;
}
class data extends item implements Runnable {
item d = this;
Thread t;
data() {
t = new Thread(this);
t.start();
}
public void run() {
d = syn.increment(d);
}
}
class syn {
synchronized static item increment(item i) {
i.count++;
return (i);
}
}
I am not sure what this part of code does?
public void run() {
d = syn.increment(d);
}
}
class syn {
synchronized static item increment(item i) {
i.count++;
return (i);
}
}
the run function is used when starting the thread, this is a must function you need to override when implement Runnable. When calling Thread.start(), the run function will be called.
The class syn contains a synchronized method, it is simply mean that only one thread can access it each time, thus make the incerment function thread safe.
object d has a static variable count meaning all instances of item class (and data ) share the same count, so all threads increment the same variable
the line d = syn.increment(d); is basically count++ but in a thread safe way
right now i'm trying to get my head arround threads and concurrency,
so i tried to make multiple threads which counts together to 1000.
Example: Thread 1=0, Thread 2=1.Thread 3=2, and so on
As you will see in the code i implemented the Runnable interface and started the threads.
What i can see is that every thread starts the loop only for itself even if i use a synchronized method.
This is the loop "class"
private String threadname;
private int counter;
Task3(String threadname,int counter) {
this.threadname = threadname;
this.counter =counter;
}
private synchronized void compute(int i) {
try {
// "simulate" computation
System.out.println(threadname);
Thread.sleep(100);
System.out.println(" " + i);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void run() {
for(int i=0; i <= counter;i++)
compute(i);
}
and in this class i start 4 threads with a for loop and give the method aboce the parameters which is only the thread name and how often they should count...
for(int i=0; i<=3;i++){
Runnable r =new Thread(new Task3("Thread"+i,1000));
Thread t = new Thread(r);
t.start();
}
thanks in advance
Explanation
Synchronized only means that it is ensured that a thread waits before entering the method until another thread has finished executing this method. This means that only one thread, at one time, can be inside of this synchronized method.
This can prevent strange behavior when using non-atomic operations. For example threads catching outdated values, thinking they would be up-to-date.
Solution
If you want that all threads count together you need some kind of shared resource, i.e. the counter. Currently every thread has his own counter. You need one counter in total which is shared among all threads.
A quick and dirty method would be to make the counter static. But you can probably do better with a design like this:
Class which manages the threads:
public class Demo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Demo demo = new Demo();
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
Counter counter = new Counter(demo, 1000);
counter.start();
}
}
// Provide a shared resource for all threads
private int sharedCounter = 0;
// Provide a count method for all threads
// which is synchronized to ensure that no
// strange behavior with non-atomic operations occurs
public synchronized void count() {
sharedCounter++;
}
}
And the Thread class:
public class Counter extends Thread {
private Demo mDemo;
private int mAmount;
public Counter(Demo demo, int amount) {
// Remember the shared resource
mDemo = demo;
mAmount = amount;
}
#Override
public void run() {
for (int i < 0; i < mAmount; i++) {
// Call the count method provided
// by the shared resource
mDemo.count();
// Sleep some millis
try {
Thread.sleep(100);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}
I am new to multi-threading and While I am reading about multi threading, thought of writing this fancy multi-threading code to do the following.
My counter class is as follows.
class Counter {
private int c = 0;
public void increment() {
System.out.println("increment value: "+c);
c++;
}
public void decrement() {
c--;
System.out.println("decrement value: "+c);
}
public int value() {
return c;
}
}
This Counter object is shared between two threads.
Once threads are started, I need to do the following.
I want Thread2 to wait until the Thread1 increments the count of the Counter object by 1.
Once this is done, Then Thread 1 informs thread2 and then Thread1 starts waiting for thread2 to decrement value by 1.
Then thread2 starts and decrements value by 1 and informs thread1 again and then thread2 start waiting for thread1. Repeat this process for few times.
How can I achieve this. Many thanks in advance.
I have done the following.
public class ConcurrencyExample {
private static Counter counter;
private static DecrementCount t1;
private static IncrementCount t2;
public static void main(String[] args) {
Counter counter = new Counter();
Thread t1 = new Thread(new IncrementCount(counter));
t1.start();
Thread t2 = new Thread(new DecrementCount(counter));
t2.start();
}
}
public class DecrementCount implements Runnable {
private static Counter counter;
public DecrementCount(Counter counter) {
this.counter = counter;
}
#Override
public void run() {
for (int i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
counter.decrement();
System.out.println("decreamented");
}
}
}
public class IncrementCount implements Runnable {
private static Counter counter;
public IncrementCount(Counter counter) {
this.counter = counter;
}
#Override
public void run() {
for (int i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
counter.increment();
System.out.println("Incremented");
}
}
}
Check out Semaphore. You'll need two, one for each thread: incSemaphore and decSemaphore. In DecrementCount do:
for (int i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
decSemaphore.acquire();
counter.decrement();
System.out.println("decreamented");
incSemaphore.release();
}
Implement IncrementCount symmetrically. Initial value of incSemaphore should be 1 and 0 for decSemaphore.
BTW your Counter requires synchronization as well (see synchronized keyword and AtomicInteger).
Synchronizers enable threads to wait for one another. See CountDownLatch and Semaphore.
See Synchronizers section in the java.util.concurrent package
- First your increment() and decrement() must be using synchronized keyword to avoid the Race Condition See this Brian's Rule
When we write a variable which has just been read by another thread, or reading a variable which is just lately written by another thread, must be using Synchronization. And those atomic statements/Methods accessing the fields' data must be also synchronized.
- Its the JVM Thread Scheduler that has control Which thread will enter the Running State, how long its gonna stay there, and where it will go after its work has been done.
- One Cannot be sure of which thread will run first.....
- You can also use SingleThreadExecutor from java.util.concurrent, this completes one task before moving onto the second.
Use Condition with boolean flag.
final Lock lock = new ReentrantLock();
final Condition incremented= lock.newCondition();
final Condition decremented= lock.newCondition();
Change your Counter to below
Explanation :
We have used two conditions one is incremented and one is decremented. based on boolean flag we check whether we have to wait on one condition or not.
class Counter {
private int c = 0;
boolean increment = false;
final Lock lock = new ReentrantLock();
final Condition incremented = lock.newCondition();
final Condition decremented = lock.newCondition();
public void increment() throws InterruptedException {
Lock lock = this.lock;
lock.lock();
try {
while(increment)
decremented.await();
increment = true;
c++;
System.out.println("increment value: " + c);
incremented.signal();
} finally {
lock.unlock();
}
}
public void decrement() throws InterruptedException {
Lock lock = this.lock;
lock.lock();
try {
while (!increment)
incremented.await();
c--;
System.out.println("decrement value: " + c);
increment = false;
decremented.signal();
} finally {
lock.unlock();
}
}
public int value() {
Lock lock = this.lock;
lock.lock();
try {
return c;
} finally {
lock.unlock();
}
}
}