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25 /*
26  * This file is available under and governed by the GNU General Public
27  * License version 2 only, as published by the Free Software Foundation.
28  * However, the following notice accompanied the original version of this
29  * file:
30  *
31  * Written by Doug Lea with assistance from members of JCP JSR-166
32  * Expert Group and released to the public domain, as explained at
33  * http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
34  */
35 
36 /**
37  * A small toolkit of classes that support lock-free thread-safe
38  * programming on single variables.  In essence, the classes in this
39  * package extend the notion of {@code volatile} values, fields, and
40  * array elements to those that also provide an atomic conditional update
41  * operation of the form:
42  *
43  * <pre> {@code boolean compareAndSet(expectedValue, updateValue);}</pre>
44  *
45  * <p>This method (which varies in argument types across different
46  * classes) atomically sets a variable to the {@code updateValue} if it
47  * currently holds the {@code expectedValue}, reporting {@code true} on
48  * success.  The classes in this package also contain methods to get and
49  * unconditionally set values, as well as a weaker conditional atomic
50  * update operation {@code weakCompareAndSet} described below.
51  *
52  * <p>The specifications of these methods enable implementations to
53  * employ efficient machine-level atomic instructions that are available
54  * on contemporary processors.  However on some platforms, support may
55  * entail some form of internal locking.  Thus the methods are not
56  * strictly guaranteed to be non-blocking --
57  * a thread may block transiently before performing the operation.
58  *
59  * <p>Instances of classes
60  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean},
61  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger},
62  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong}, and
63  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference}
64  * each provide access and updates to a single variable of the
65  * corresponding type.  Each class also provides appropriate utility
66  * methods for that type.  For example, classes {@code AtomicLong} and
67  * {@code AtomicInteger} provide atomic increment methods.  One
68  * application is to generate sequence numbers, as in:
69  *
70  * <pre> {@code
71  * class Sequencer {
72  *   private final AtomicLong sequenceNumber
73  *     = new AtomicLong(0);
74  *   public long next() {
75  *     return sequenceNumber.getAndIncrement();
76  *   }
77  * }}</pre>
78  *
79  * <p>It is straightforward to define new utility functions that, like
80  * {@code getAndIncrement}, apply a function to a value atomically.
81  * For example, given some transformation
82  * <pre> {@code long transform(long input)}</pre>
83  *
84  * write your utility method as follows:
85  * <pre> {@code
86  * long getAndTransform(AtomicLong var) {
87  *   long prev, next;
88  *   do {
89  *     prev = var.get();
90  *     next = transform(prev);
91  *   } while (!var.compareAndSet(prev, next));
92  *   return prev; // return next; for transformAndGet
93  * }}</pre>
94  *
95  * <p>The memory effects for accesses and updates of atomics generally
96  * follow the rules for volatiles, as stated in
97  * <a href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se8/html/jls-17.html#jls-17.4">
98  * Chapter 17 of
99  * <cite>The Java&trade; Language Specification</cite></a>:
100  *
101  * <ul>
102  *
103  *   <li>{@code get} has the memory effects of reading a
104  * {@code volatile} variable.
105  *
106  *   <li>{@code set} has the memory effects of writing (assigning) a
107  * {@code volatile} variable.
108  *
109  *   <li>{@code lazySet} has the memory effects of writing (assigning)
110  *   a {@code volatile} variable except that it permits reorderings with
111  *   subsequent (but not previous) memory actions that do not themselves
112  *   impose reordering constraints with ordinary non-{@code volatile}
113  *   writes.  Among other usage contexts, {@code lazySet} may apply when
114  *   nulling out, for the sake of garbage collection, a reference that is
115  *   never accessed again.
116  *
117  *   <li>{@code weakCompareAndSet} atomically reads and conditionally
118  *   writes a variable but does <em>not</em>
119  *   create any happens-before orderings, so provides no guarantees
120  *   with respect to previous or subsequent reads and writes of any
121  *   variables other than the target of the {@code weakCompareAndSet}.
122  *
123  *   <li>{@code compareAndSet}
124  *   and all other read-and-update operations such as {@code getAndIncrement}
125  *   have the memory effects of both reading and
126  *   writing {@code volatile} variables.
127  * </ul>
128  *
129  * <p>In addition to classes representing single values, this package
130  * contains <em>Updater</em> classes that can be used to obtain
131  * {@code compareAndSet} operations on any selected {@code volatile}
132  * field of any selected class.
133  *
134  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater},
135  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicIntegerFieldUpdater}, and
136  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLongFieldUpdater} are
137  * reflection-based utilities that provide access to the associated
138  * field types.  These are mainly of use in atomic data structures in
139  * which several {@code volatile} fields of the same node (for
140  * example, the links of a tree node) are independently subject to
141  * atomic updates.  These classes enable greater flexibility in how
142  * and when to use atomic updates, at the expense of more awkward
143  * reflection-based setup, less convenient usage, and weaker
144  * guarantees.
145  *
146  * <p>The
147  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicIntegerArray},
148  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLongArray}, and
149  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReferenceArray} classes
150  * further extend atomic operation support to arrays of these types.
151  * These classes are also notable in providing {@code volatile} access
152  * semantics for their array elements, which is not supported for
153  * ordinary arrays.
154  *
155  * <p id="weakCompareAndSet">The atomic classes also support method
156  * {@code weakCompareAndSet}, which has limited applicability.  On some
157  * platforms, the weak version may be more efficient than {@code
158  * compareAndSet} in the normal case, but differs in that any given
159  * invocation of the {@code weakCompareAndSet} method may return {@code
160  * false} <em>spuriously</em> (that is, for no apparent reason).  A
161  * {@code false} return means only that the operation may be retried if
162  * desired, relying on the guarantee that repeated invocation when the
163  * variable holds {@code expectedValue} and no other thread is also
164  * attempting to set the variable will eventually succeed.  (Such
165  * spurious failures may for example be due to memory contention effects
166  * that are unrelated to whether the expected and current values are
167  * equal.)  Additionally {@code weakCompareAndSet} does not provide
168  * ordering guarantees that are usually needed for synchronization
169  * control.  However, the method may be useful for updating counters and
170  * statistics when such updates are unrelated to the other
171  * happens-before orderings of a program.  When a thread sees an update
172  * to an atomic variable caused by a {@code weakCompareAndSet}, it does
173  * not necessarily see updates to any <em>other</em> variables that
174  * occurred before the {@code weakCompareAndSet}.  This may be
175  * acceptable when, for example, updating performance statistics, but
176  * rarely otherwise.
177  *
178  * <p>The {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicMarkableReference}
179  * class associates a single boolean with a reference.  For example, this
180  * bit might be used inside a data structure to mean that the object
181  * being referenced has logically been deleted.
182  *
183  * The {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicStampedReference}
184  * class associates an integer value with a reference.  This may be
185  * used for example, to represent version numbers corresponding to
186  * series of updates.
187  *
188  * <p>Atomic classes are designed primarily as building blocks for
189  * implementing non-blocking data structures and related infrastructure
190  * classes.  The {@code compareAndSet} method is not a general
191  * replacement for locking.  It applies only when critical updates for an
192  * object are confined to a <em>single</em> variable.
193  *
194  * <p>Atomic classes are not general purpose replacements for
195  * {@code java.lang.Integer} and related classes.  They do <em>not</em>
196  * define methods such as {@code equals}, {@code hashCode} and
197  * {@code compareTo}.  (Because atomic variables are expected to be
198  * mutated, they are poor choices for hash table keys.)  Additionally,
199  * classes are provided only for those types that are commonly useful in
200  * intended applications.  For example, there is no atomic class for
201  * representing {@code byte}.  In those infrequent cases where you would
202  * like to do so, you can use an {@code AtomicInteger} to hold
203  * {@code byte} values, and cast appropriately.
204  *
205  * You can also hold floats using
206  * {@link java.lang.Float#floatToRawIntBits} and
207  * {@link java.lang.Float#intBitsToFloat} conversions, and doubles using
208  * {@link java.lang.Double#doubleToRawLongBits} and
209  * {@link java.lang.Double#longBitsToDouble} conversions.
210  *
211  * @since 1.5
212  */
213 package java.util.concurrent.atomic;
214