understanding nested locks in java - java

i want to understand this:
String string;
public Test(String string){
this.string = string;
.....
}
public void foo(newObjectPerCall o) {
synchronized (o) {
//each thread can enter here because the object passed is always different
....
synchronized (string) {
// acquire this lock if the String is free.
}
}
}
public synchronized void function() {
}
public static void main(){
Test test = new Test("hello");
for(int i = 0; i < 10;i++){
WorkerThread workerThread = new WorkerThread(test);
workerThread.start();
}
}
thread class
public class WorkerThread extends Thread {
private Test test;
public WorkerThread(Test test) {
this.test = test;
}
#Override
public void run() {
while (true) {
test.foo(new Object());
try {
sleep(3000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
test.function();
}
}
}
my doubts are:
if one thread acquire the inner lock, other threads that acquired the outer lock, will remains inside the foo function?
When on thread ,for some reasons, remains outside the foo function, can this one acquire the lock of test instance inside function?

if one thread acquire the inner lock, other threads that acquired the outer lock, will remains inside the foo function?
Yes. They will block, waiting to acquire the monitor for string.
When on thread ,for some reasons, remains outside the foo function, can this one acquire the lock of test instance inside function?
Yes, it's entirely independent of the other monitors. A synchronized instance method is just equivalent to one whose body is
synchronized (this) {
...
}
If no other thread already owns the monitor for this, the "new" thread can acquire it regardless of what other monitors are owned. But as all your worker threads are using the same instance of Test, only one of them will be able to be "in" function() at a time. That can be at the same time as another thread is executing foo() though.

Sorry I know only the answer only for the first question
if one thread acquire the inner lock, other threads that acquired the outer lock, will remains inside the foo function?
Yes

Related

java, synchronized in two separate methods?

I'm trying to create thread safe queue in java. I've come across this example:
class ProducerConsumer<T> {
private static final int BUFFER_MAX_SIZE = 42;
private List<T> buffer = new LinkedList<>();
synchronized void produce(T value) throws InterruptedException {
while (buffer.size() == BUFFER_MAX_SIZE) {
wait();
}
buffer.add(value);
notify();
}
synchronized T consume() throws InterruptedException {
while (buffer.size() == 0) {
wait();
}
T result = buffer.remove(0);
notify();
return result;
}
}
I'm new to java. In my understanding those two 'synchronized' keywords would prevent contention inside each method, but not when both methods are called simultaneously. E.g. thread P calls produce, locks method, thread C calls consume, locks other method, then one tries to extract element from list, another tries to insert element, thread exception arises.
My question: Is this example broken?
Or maybe I'm missing something and it's ok.
JLS, §17.1 is quite explicit about the mechanism:
...
A synchronized method (§8.4.3.6) automatically performs a lock action when it is invoked; its body is not executed until the lock action has successfully completed. If the method is an instance method, it locks the monitor associated with the instance for which it was invoked (that is, the object that will be known as this during execution of the body of the method). If the method is static, it locks the monitor associated with the Class object that represents the class in which the method is defined. If execution of the method's body is ever completed, either normally or abruptly, an unlock action is automatically performed on that same monitor.
...
Thus, it is guaranteed that at one point in time on one object at most one thread is executing either produce(...) or consume(). It is not possible that, at one point in time, one thread executes produce(...) on an object while another thread executes consume() on the same object.
The call to wait() in consume() releases the intrinsic lock and blocks execution. The call to notify() in produce(...) notifies one wait()ing thread (if any), so it can fight for the lock as soon as the lock is released by the current owner. Notice that a call to notify() does not release the intrinsic lock. It just wakes up a wait()ing thread. This can be made observable with the following code snippet:
class Ideone {
private static final Object lock = new Object();
public static void main(String[] args) {
printWithThreadNamePrefix("Start");
Thread waiter = new Thread(Ideone::waiter);
waiter.start();
// Give waiter some time to a) start and b) acquire the intrinsic lock
try {
Thread.sleep(500);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
}
final Thread notifier = new Thread(Ideone::notifier);
notifier.start();
while (true) {
try {
waiter.join();
break;
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
}
}
printWithThreadNamePrefix("End");
}
private static void waiter() {
synchronized (lock) {
printWithThreadNamePrefix("Waiting...");
while (true) {
try {
lock.wait();
break;
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
}
}
printWithThreadNamePrefix("... done waiting");
}
}
private static void printWithThreadNamePrefix(String msg) {
System.out.println(String.format(
"%s: %s",
Thread.currentThread().getName(),
msg));
}
private static void notifier() {
synchronized (lock) {
printWithThreadNamePrefix("notifying");
lock.notify();
while (true) {
}
}
}
}
Ideone demo
The program will never terminate. Although thread two calls notify(), it then enters an endless loop, never actually releasing the intrinsic lock. Thus, one never has a chance to acquire the intrinsic lock, and the program "hangs" (it is neither a deadlock, nor a livelock, it simply cannot proceed).
The things I recommend to change are:
declare private List<T> buffer additionally as final
call notifyAll() instead of notify() in order to wake all waiting threads (they will still execute sequentially, for details see this question by Sergey Mikhanov and its answers)

Synchronizing static methods

I'm writing code that requires some synchronization between a few static methods. My goal is to block the execution of any of these methods if one of them executes.
So for example:
public class Foo{
static Object lock = new Object();
static List<SomeObject> listOfObjects = new ArrayList<>() ;
public static void methodA() {
synchronized (lock) {
//Do some stuff
methodB();
}
}
public static List<SomeObject> methodB() {
synchronized (lock) {
//Do some stuff
return listOfObjects;
}
}
}
Now let's assume that the following is executed from somewhere in the code:
Foo.methodA();
Foo.methodB();
My questions are:
Is it actually synchronized? will methodA and methodB won't run concurrently?
If so, will methodA calling methodB create a deadlock?
Answers:
"Is it actually synchronized? will methodA and methodB won't run
concurrently?" - yes, these methods are synchronised. More precisely, code blocks in methods are synchronised.
"If so, will methodA calling methodB create a deadlock?" - no, synchronized keyword is re-entrant in nature it means if a synchronized method calls another synchronized method which requires same lock then current thread which is holding lock can enter into that method without acquiring lock" - from 1
You could improve code a little by providing private and final keywords:
private static final Object lock = new Object();
Also, do not return direct reference to a List you want to protect. Return read only view:
return Collections.unmodifiableList(listOfObjects);
Since now, client has only read only access which protects you from many unexpected situations.
Static versus non-static lock object in synchronized block
Object level lock vs Class level lock in Java
Is it actually synchronized? will methodA and methodB won't run
concurrently?
Yes, this synchronization looks good.
A thread can acquire the same lock multiple times, increasing a lock counter. And after it releases all of them, only then another thread can acquire that lock.
In your code, a thread calling methodA() acquires the lock twice, once in methodA() and then in methodB(). Then it releases them twice (when the synchronized blocks end).
If so, will methodA calling methodB create a deadlock?
No, as explained above, it won't create a deadlock unless you are doing some operations in those methods that can take forever to complete, in which case there will be starvation. If you are not doing any such operation, then I don't think you can get a deadlock when you are using only one lock.
Nope. Method A and method B WILL run concurrently because it's not the methods that are synchronized but the code inside. The code will continue normally with whichever has the lock. Then the other method will finish.
public class Foo1 {
static Object lock = new Object();
static List<Integer> listOfObjects = new ArrayList<>();
public static void main(String[] args) {
new Foo1().start();
}
public void start() {
new Thread(() -> methodA()).start();
// method A has the lock
sleep(1000); // sleep 1 second
// but method B is still entered and prints first
new Thread(() -> methodB()).start();
}
public static void methodA() {
sleep(5000); // sleep 5 seconds
System.out.println("Entering methodA()");
synchronized (lock) {
// Do some stuff
methodB();
}
}
public static List<Integer> methodB() {
System.out.println("Entering methodB()");
synchronized (lock) {
// Do some stuff
return listOfObjects;
}
}
static void sleep(int milli) {
try {
Thread.sleep(milli);
}
catch (InterruptedException ie) {
}
}
}

How Java manage following scenario?

I tried some code to justify the reliability of synchronized block locking mechanism. Consider my sample code
My clocking object.
public class MyLock {
final static Object lock=new Object();
}
Class with synchronized blocks
public class Sample {
public void a(String input) {
System.out.println(input+" method a");
synchronized (lock) {
System.out.println("inside synchronized block in a");
try {
System.out.println("waiting in a");
Thread.sleep(5000);
System.out.println("calling b() from a");
new Sample().b("call from a");
System.out.println("waiting again in a");
Thread.sleep(5000);
System.out.println("Running again a");
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
public void b(String input) {
System.out.println(input+" method b");
synchronized (lock) {
System.out.println("bbb " + input);
}
}
}
Test1 class
public class Test1 implements Runnable{
public static void main(String[] args) {
new Thread(new Test1()).start();
new Thread(new Test2()).start();
}
#Override
public void run() {
new Sample().a("call from main");
}
}
Test2 class
public class Test2 implements Runnable {
#Override
public void run() {
new Sample().b("call from main");
}
}
I just did this because I thought there will be a dead lock scenario if same thread witch holding the lock is going to access another method witch locked using same lock. Now consider the out put
call from main method a
call from main method b
inside synchronized block in a
waiting in a
calling b() from a // i thought this will cause a dead lock
call from a method b
bbb call from a
waiting again in a
Running again a
bbb call from main
Now you can see there is no such issue. My question is how Java manage this situation?
synchronized block is Reentrant
By default the lock (mutex to be precise) used in synchronized block is Reentrant, which means if the same thread tries to acquire the same lock again it will not have to wait and will immediately enter the critical block as it already owns that lock.
Where is Reentrancy useful?
Simple answer is Recursion.
Consider the scenario of recursion on a synchronized method,
int synchronized method(int param){
//... some logic
method(param - 1);
}
In this example you would not want the same thread to be blocked for the same lock, as it will never be able to proceed.
Deadlock occurs in this scenario:
Thread A acquires lock A
Thread B acquires lock B
Thread A tries to acquire lock B
Thread B tries to acquire lock A
Now in this situation no one will be able to proceed and hence deadlock. But in your scenario there is only one lock, so the other thread will just wait for the first thread to leave the lock and then continue.
Since your lock object is static it is shared among threads. Once thread A has acquired the lock, and when thread B enters method B of sample class it tries to acquire the same lock Which is owned by thread A. So there is no chance of deadlock.
Problem could have been where thread A tries to acuire the lock it already holds in method B, but this hasnt happened in your case as synchnorized block itself is reenterant but if you would have implemented your own lock class and if you wouldnt have cjecked for renterency, there would have been a dead lock.

java synchronized

The Class X have two methods: test and test1.
I've created two threads: t1 and t2. Thread t1 is accessing test method and t2 is accessing test1 method of same object. When t1 is accessing test method which synchronized it acquires lock on object.
Will t2 be able to access test1 method on same object? Why it is able to access this method if t1 has a lock on it?
If I'm executing the following code
X x = new X();
new MyThread(x).start(); // It execute test() method
new MyThread1(x).start();// It execute test1() method
class X
{
String a = "varsha";
public synchronized void test ()
{
try
{
Thread.sleep (6000);
}
catch (InterruptedException e)
{
e.printStackTrace ();
}
}
public void test1 ()
{
synchronized (a)
{
}
}
}
You have two different locks:
test() locks this;
test1() locks this.a.
The two locks are completely independent and thus the two methods can be called at the same time.
Your code is equivalent to the following:
class X
{
String a = "varsha";
public void test ()
{
synchronized (this)
{
try
{
Thread.sleep (6000);
}
catch (InterruptedException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
public void test1 ()
{
synchronized(a)
{
}
}
}
So these methods are synchronizing at different objects (this versus a) and thus can be executed concurrently without locking each other.
Note, that I replaced Thread.currentThread ().sleep (6000) with Thread.sleep (6000) because method sleep is static and thus you don't need any instance of Thread in order to use it.
class X {
String a = "varsha";
public synchronized void test(){
try {
//if you are modifying the instance variable here
// then the test1() synchronized block will
//not be given lock permission to t2 thread
// synchronization is for thread safety.
// In your example you are not modifying the instance variable.
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void test1(){
synchronized(a){
}
}
}
Here is whats actually happening.
Every object in Java has a "monitor lock", In this case object "x".
There are two threads (MyThread and MyThread1) trying to acquire this lock in the following sequence -
Imagine there is a queue – MyThread is in front of MyThread1 in this queue because you have started MyThread first followed by MyThread1.
MyThread acquires the lock first and it starts executing, you have invoked the sleep() method on it. This will change the state of MyThread from "execution state" to "waiting state" and then to "ready state", it will release the lock at this moment since it is not in execution state. At this point MyThread1 is ahead in the queue and it acquires the lock and starts executing.
This is in a way similar to the concept of "Context Switch". Refer book - Operating System Internals and Design.
When you mark a method as synchronized, it locks the object for that method; meaning no other thread can access that PARTICULAR method for that object. In your case no other thread can access the test method; but of course test1 method can be accessed.

How locks obtained in multithreading and on which object?

Class ThreadTest extends Thread {
public synchronized void run() {
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
Thread t1=new ThreadTest();
Thread t2=new ThreadTest();
t1.start();
t2.start();
}
}
I want to know in above scenario, how locks obtained and on which object?
Does above scenario valid?
As locks are obtained on a calling object in method synchronisation then in above scenario on which object lock will be obtained. One more question who(or which object) invokes the run method?
Thanks,
-Abhishek
t1 has the lock of the t1 instance.
t2 has the lock of the t2 instance.
But your example doesnt make much sense..
Maybe this example will help you:
public class Test extends Thread {
private String name;
public Test(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public synchronized void run() {
System.out.println(name);
while(true)
{
// loop endless
}
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
Thread t1= new Test("t1");
Thread t2= new Test("t2");
t1.start();
t2.start();
}
}
The output is:
t1
t2
You have started both the threads, but it depends on JVM which thread it might execute, so depending upon the thread which starts executing will acquire the lock first and the second thread cant be on running state till the first thread stops.
but in your case as both are different thread instances they run parallel, as the lock is acquired at the object level.
Your example doesn't make that much sense, because locks are on a per-instance level, not on a per-class level as you might wanted to use them.
I think you got it wrong a bit. The thread is wrapping up the code that is executing commands. These executions often contain access on other objects. That is the point, where locking comes into the game. Each of these objects have a monitor that can be obtained by threads. However, only one thread can obtain the lock at a time. Thus, other threads are enqueued and can access object as soon as the current holder releases it, trivially by exiting a synchronized code block.
I think you might wanted to do something like this:
class ThreadTest extends Thread
{
private final Foo f;
public ThreadTest(Foo f,int i)
{
super(""+i);
this.f = f;
}
#Override
public void run()
{
f.bar();
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
Foo f = new Foo();
Thread t1 = new ThreadTest(f,1);
Thread t2 = new ThreadTest(f,2);
t1.start();
t2.start();
}
public static class Foo
{
public synchronized void bar()
{
System.out.print("hello form Thread ");
System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName());
}
}
}
Formal Definition
When a thread invokes a synchronized method, it automatically acquires the intrinsic lock for that method's object and releases it when the method returns. The lock release occurs even if the return was caused by an uncaught exception.
If what you want is to have only one thread execute at a time (What's the point) then you should call a static method and call that from inside your run(), there is only one static method for all object of a class
How do synchronized static methods work in Java?

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