Module java.base
Package java.util.concurrent.atomic

Class AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater<T,V>

java.lang.Object
java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater<T,V>
Type Parameters:
T - The type of the object holding the updatable field
V - The type of the field
public abstract class AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater<T,V> extends Object
A reflection-based utility that enables atomic updates to designated volatile reference fields of designated classes. This class is designed for use in atomic data structures in which several reference fields of the same node are independently subject to atomic updates. For example, a tree node might be declared as 
 
 class Node {
   private volatile Node left, right;

   private static final AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater<Node, Node> leftUpdater =
     AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater.newUpdater(Node.class, Node.class, "left");
   private static final AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater<Node, Node> rightUpdater =
     AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater.newUpdater(Node.class, Node.class, "right");

   Node getLeft() { return left; }
   boolean compareAndSetLeft(Node expect, Node update) {
     return leftUpdater.compareAndSet(this, expect, update);
   }
   // ... and so on
 }

Note that the guarantees of the compareAndSet method in this class are weaker than in other atomic classes. Because this class cannot ensure that all uses of the field are appropriate for purposes of atomic access, it can guarantee atomicity only with respect to other invocations of compareAndSet and set on the same updater.

Object arguments for parameters of type T that are not instances of the class passed to newUpdater(java.lang.Class<U>, java.lang.Class<W>, java.lang.String) will result in a ClassCastException being thrown.

Since:
1.5