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JW Archives: How the Java virtual machine performs thread synchronization

Understanding threads, locks, monitors and more in Java bytecode

By Bill Venners, JavaWorld.com, 06/18/12

Page 2 of 3

To coordinate shared data access among multiple threads, the Java virtual machine associates a lock with each object and class. A lock is like a privilege that only one thread can "possess" at any one time. If a thread wants to lock a particular object or class, it asks the JVM. At some point after the thread asks the JVM for a lock -- maybe very soon, maybe later, possibly never -- the JVM gives the lock to the thread. When the thread no longer needs the lock, it returns it to the JVM. If another thread has requested the same lock, the JVM passes the lock to that thread.

Class locks are actually implemented as object locks. When the JVM loads a class file, it creates an instance of class java.lang.Class. When you lock a class, you are actually locking that class's Class object.

Threads need not obtain a lock to access instance or class variables. If a thread does obtain a lock, however, no other thread can access the locked data until the thread that owns the lock releases it.

Monitors

The JVM uses locks in conjunction with monitors. A monitor is basically a guardian in that it watches over a sequence of code, making sure only one thread at a time executes the code.

Each monitor is associated with an object reference. When a thread arrives at the first instruction in a block of code that is under the watchful eye of a monitor, the thread must obtain a lock on the referenced object. The thread is not allowed to execute the code until it obtains the lock. Once it has obtained the lock, the thread enters the block of protected code.

When the thread leaves the block, no matter how it leaves the block, it releases the lock on the associated object.

Multiple locks

A single thread is allowed to lock the same object multiple times. For each object, the JVM maintains a count of the number of times the object has been locked. An unlocked object has a count of zero. When a thread acquires the lock for the first time, the count is incremented to one. Each time the thread acquires a lock on the same object, a count is incremented. Each time the thread releases the lock, the count is decremented. When the count reaches zero, the lock is released and made available to other threads.

Synchronized blocks

In Java language terminology, the coordination of multiple threads that must access shared data is called synchronization. The language provides two built-in ways to synchronize access to data: with synchronized statements or synchronized methods.

Synchronized statements

To create a synchronized statement, you use the synchronized keyword with an expression that evaluates to an object reference, as in the reverseOrder() method below:

class KitchenSync {
    private int[] intArray = new int[10];
    void reverseOrder() {
        synchronized (this) {
            int halfWay = intArray.length / 2;
            for (int i = 0; i < halfWay; ++i) {
                int upperIndex = intArray.length - 1 - i;
                int save = intArray[upperIndex];
                intArray[upperIndex] = intArray[i];
                intArray[i] = save;
            }
        }
    }
}

In the case above, the statements contained within the synchronized block will not be executed until a lock is acquired on the current object (this). If instead of a this reference, the expression yielded a reference to another object, the lock associated with that object would be acquired before the thread continued.