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 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.

Since:

1.5

AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater

protected AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater()

Protected do-nothing constructor for use by subclasses.

newUpdater

public static <U,W> AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater<U,W> newUpdater(Class<U> tclass,
                                                                Class<W> vclass,
                                                                String fieldName)

Creates and returns an updater for objects with the given field. The Class arguments are needed to check that reflective types and generic types match.

Parameters:

tclass - the class of the objects holding the field.

vclass - the class of the field

fieldName - the name of the field to be updated.

Returns:

the updater

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if the field is not a volatile reference type.

RuntimeException - with a nested reflection-based exception if the class does not hold field or is the wrong type.

compareAndSet

public abstract boolean compareAndSet(T obj,
                                      V expect,
                                      V update)

Atomically sets the field of the given object managed by this updater to the given updated value if the current value == the expected value. This method is guaranteed to be atomic with respect to other calls to compareAndSet and set, set , but not necessarily with respect to other changes in the field.

Parameters:

obj - An object whose field to conditionally set

expect - the expected value

update - the new value

Returns:

true if successful.

weakCompareAndSet

public abstract boolean weakCompareAndSet(T obj,
                                          V expect,
                                          V update)

Atomically sets the field of the given object managed by this updater to the given updated value if the current value == the expected value. This method is guaranteed to be atomic with respect to other calls to compareAndSet and set, set , but not necessarily with respect to other changes in the field. field, and may fail spuriously.

May fail spuriously and does not provide ordering guarantees, so is only rarely an appropriate alternative to compareAndSet.

Parameters:

obj - An object whose field to conditionally set

expect - the expected value

update - the new value

Returns:

true if successful.

set

public abstract void set(T obj,
                         V newValue)

Sets the field of the given object managed by this updater to the given updated value. This operation is guaranteed to act as a volatile store with respect to subsequent invocations of compareAndSet. compareAndSet .

Parameters:

obj - An object whose field to set

newValue - the new value

lazySet

public abstract void lazySet(T obj,
                             V newValue)

Eventually sets the field of the given object managed by this updater to the given updated value.

Parameters:

obj - An object whose field to set

newValue - the new value

Since:

1.6

get

public abstract V get(T obj)

Gets the current value held in the field of the given object managed by this updater.

Parameters:

obj - An object whose field to get

Returns:

the current value

getAndSet

public V getAndSet(T obj,
                   V newValue)

Atomically sets the field of the given object managed by this updater to the given value and returns the old value.

Parameters:

obj - An object whose field to get and set

newValue - the new value

Returns:

the previous value