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24 
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/se7/html/jls-17.html#jls-17.4">
98  * The Java Language Specification (17.4 Memory Model)</a>:
99  *
100  * <ul>
101  *
102  *   <li> {@code get} has the memory effects of reading a
103  * {@code volatile} variable.
104  *
105  *   <li> {@code set} has the memory effects of writing (assigning) a
106  * {@code volatile} variable.
107  *
108  *   <li> {@code lazySet} has the memory effects of writing (assigning)
109  *   a {@code volatile} variable except that it permits reorderings with
110  *   subsequent (but not previous) memory actions that do not themselves
111  *   impose reordering constraints with ordinary non-{@code volatile}
112  *   writes.  Among other usage contexts, {@code lazySet} may apply when
113  *   nulling out, for the sake of garbage collection, a reference that is
114  *   never accessed again.
115  *
116  *   <li>{@code weakCompareAndSet} atomically reads and conditionally
117  *   writes a variable but does <em>not</em>
118  *   create any happens-before orderings, so provides no guarantees
119  *   with respect to previous or subsequent reads and writes of any
120  *   variables other than the target of the {@code weakCompareAndSet}.
121  *
122  *   <li> {@code compareAndSet}
123  *   and all other read-and-update operations such as {@code getAndIncrement}
124  *   have the memory effects of both reading and
125  *   writing {@code volatile} variables.
126  * </ul>
127  *
128  * <p>In addition to classes representing single values, this package
129  * contains <em>Updater</em> classes that can be used to obtain
130  * {@code compareAndSet} operations on any selected {@code volatile}
131  * field of any selected class.
132  *
133  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater},
134  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicIntegerFieldUpdater}, and
135  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLongFieldUpdater} are
136  * reflection-based utilities that provide access to the associated
137  * field types.  These are mainly of use in atomic data structures in
138  * which several {@code volatile} fields of the same node (for
139  * example, the links of a tree node) are independently subject to
140  * atomic updates.  These classes enable greater flexibility in how
141  * and when to use atomic updates, at the expense of more awkward
142  * reflection-based setup, less convenient usage, and weaker
143  * guarantees.
144  *
145  * <p>The
146  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicIntegerArray},
147  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLongArray}, and
148  * {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReferenceArray} classes
149  * further extend atomic operation support to arrays of these types.
150  * These classes are also notable in providing {@code volatile} access
151  * semantics for their array elements, which is not supported for
152  * ordinary arrays.
153  *
154  * <p id="weakCompareAndSet">The atomic classes also support method
155  * {@code weakCompareAndSet}, which has limited applicability.  On some
156  * platforms, the weak version may be more efficient than {@code
157  * compareAndSet} in the normal case, but differs in that any given
158  * invocation of the {@code weakCompareAndSet} method may return {@code
159  * false} <em>spuriously</em> (that is, for no apparent reason).  A
160  * {@code false} return means only that the operation may be retried if
161  * desired, relying on the guarantee that repeated invocation when the
162  * variable holds {@code expectedValue} and no other thread is also
163  * attempting to set the variable will eventually succeed.  (Such
164  * spurious failures may for example be due to memory contention effects
165  * that are unrelated to whether the expected and current values are
166  * equal.)  Additionally {@code weakCompareAndSet} does not provide
167  * ordering guarantees that are usually needed for synchronization
168  * control.  However, the method may be useful for updating counters and
169  * statistics when such updates are unrelated to the other
170  * happens-before orderings of a program.  When a thread sees an update
171  * to an atomic variable caused by a {@code weakCompareAndSet}, it does
172  * not necessarily see updates to any <em>other</em> variables that
173  * occurred before the {@code weakCompareAndSet}.  This may be
174  * acceptable when, for example, updating performance statistics, but
175  * rarely otherwise.
176  *
177  * <p>The {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicMarkableReference}
178  * class associates a single boolean with a reference.  For example, this
179  * bit might be used inside a data structure to mean that the object
180  * being referenced has logically been deleted.
181  *
182  * The {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicStampedReference}
183  * class associates an integer value with a reference.  This may be
184  * used for example, to represent version numbers corresponding to
185  * series of updates.
186  *
187  * <p>Atomic classes are designed primarily as building blocks for
188  * implementing non-blocking data structures and related infrastructure
189  * classes.  The {@code compareAndSet} method is not a general
190  * replacement for locking.  It applies only when critical updates for an
191  * object are confined to a <em>single</em> variable.
192  *
193  * <p>Atomic classes are not general purpose replacements for
194  * {@code java.lang.Integer} and related classes.  They do <em>not</em>
195  * define methods such as {@code equals}, {@code hashCode} and
196  * {@code compareTo}.  (Because atomic variables are expected to be
197  * mutated, they are poor choices for hash table keys.)  Additionally,
198  * classes are provided only for those types that are commonly useful in
199  * intended applications.  For example, there is no atomic class for
200  * representing {@code byte}.  In those infrequent cases where you would
201  * like to do so, you can use an {@code AtomicInteger} to hold
202  * {@code byte} values, and cast appropriately.
203  *
204  * You can also hold floats using
205  * {@link java.lang.Float#floatToRawIntBits} and
206  * {@link java.lang.Float#intBitsToFloat} conversions, and doubles using
207  * {@link java.lang.Double#doubleToRawLongBits} and
208  * {@link java.lang.Double#longBitsToDouble} conversions.
209  *
210  * @since 1.5
211  */
212 package java.util.concurrent.atomic;
213