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Example of Synchronized Method in Java

This document provides examples of using synchronized methods and synchronized blocks in Java. It explains that synchronized methods lock on the class object for static methods and the current object for non-static methods, allowing them to potentially run in parallel. It then shows a Counter class that is not properly synchronized as the static and non-static methods lock on different objects. It next demonstrates using a synchronized block with a Singleton class to only synchronize the critical section of instance creation.

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abhaybaranwal
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80 views

Example of Synchronized Method in Java

This document provides examples of using synchronized methods and synchronized blocks in Java. It explains that synchronized methods lock on the class object for static methods and the current object for non-static methods, allowing them to potentially run in parallel. It then shows a Counter class that is not properly synchronized as the static and non-static methods lock on different objects. It next demonstrates using a synchronized block with a Singleton class to only synchronize the critical section of instance creation.

Uploaded by

abhaybaranwal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Example of synchronized method in Java

Using synchronized keyword along with method is easy just apply synchronized keyword in front of method.
What we need to take care is that static synchronized method locked on class object lock and non static
synchronized method locks on current object (this). So it’s possible that both static and non static java
synchronized method running in parallel. This is the common mistake a naive developer do while writing java
synchronized code.

public class Counter{


private static int count = 0;

public static synchronized int getCount(){


return count;
}

public synchoronized setCount(int count){


this.count = count;
}

In this example of java synchronization code is not properly synchronized because both getCount() and setCount()
are not getting locked on same object and can run in parallel which results in getting incorrect count. Here
getCount() will lock in Counter.class object while setCount() will lock on current object (this). To make this code
properly synchronized in java you need to either make both method static or non static or use java synchronized
block instead of java synchronized method.

Example of synchronized block in Java


Using synchronized block in java is also similar to using synchronized keyword in methods. Only important
thing to note here is that if object used to lock synchronized block of code, Singleton.class in below example is null
then java synchronized block will throw a NullPointerException.

public class Singleton{


private static volatile Singleton _instance;

public static Singleton getInstance(){

if(_instance == null){
synchronized(Singleton.class){
if(_instance == null)
_instance = new Singleton();
}

}
return _instance;

This is a classic example of double checked locking in Singleton. In this example of java synchronized code we
have made only critical section (part of code which is creating instance of singleton) synchronized and saved some
performance because if you make whole method synchronized every call of this method will be blocked while you
only need to create instance on first call. To read more about Singleton in Java see here.
Synchronized Methods

The Java programming language provides two basic synchronization idioms: synchronized
methods and synchronized statements. The more complex of the two, synchronized statements,
are described in the next section. This section is about synchronized methods.

To make a method synchronized, simply add the synchronized keyword to its declaration:

public class SynchronizedCounter {


private int c = 0;

public synchronized void increment() {


c++;
}

public synchronized void decrement() {


c--;
}

public synchronized int value() {


return c;
}
}

If count is an instance of SynchronizedCounter, then making these methods synchronized has


two effects:

 First, it is not possible for two invocations of synchronized methods on the same object to
interleave. When one thread is executing a synchronized method for an object, all other threads
that invoke synchronized methods for the same object block (suspend execution) until the first
thread is done with the object.
 Second, when a synchronized method exits, it automatically establishes a happens-before
relationship with any subsequent invocation of a synchronized method for the same object. This
guarantees that changes to the state of the object are visible to all threads.

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