Synchronization in Java

Synchronization in java is the capability to control the access of multiple threads to any shared
resource.
Java Synchronization is better option where we want to allow only one thread to access the
shared resource.
Why use Synchronization
The synchronization is mainly used to
1. To prevent thread interference.
2. To prevent consistency problem.

Types of Synchronization

There are two types of synchronization

1. Process Synchronization
2. Thread Synchronization

Here, we will discuss only thread synchronization.

Thread Synchronization
There are two types of thread synchronization mutual exclusive and inter-thread
communication.
1. Mutual Exclusive

a. Synchronized method.
b. Synchronized block.
c. static synchronization.

2. Cooperation (Inter-thread communication in java)

Mutual Exclusive

Mutual Exclusive helps keep threads from interfering with one another while sharing data. This
can be done by three ways in java:

1. by synchronized method

2. by synchronized block

3. by static synchronization
Concept of Lock in Java

Synchronization is built around an internal entity known as the lock or monitor. Every object
has a lock associated with it. By convention, a thread that needs consistent access to an object's
fields has to acquire the object's lock before accessing them, and then release the lock when it's
done with them.

From Java 5 the package java.util.concurrent.locks contains several lock implementations.

Understanding the problem without Synchronization

In this example, there is no synchronization, so output is inconsistent. Let's see the example:

class Table{
void printTable(int n){//method not synchronized
for(int i=1;i<=5;i++){
System.out.println(n*i);
try{
Thread.sleep(400);
}
catch(Exception e){
System.out.println(e);
}
}
}
}
class MyThread1 extends Thread{
Table t;
MyThread1(Table t){
this.t=t;
}
public void run(){
t.printTable(5);
}
}
class MyThread2 extends Thread{
Table t;
MyThread2(Table t){
this.t=t;
}
public void run(){
t.printTable(100);
}
}
class TestSynchronization1{
 public static void main(String args[]){
Table obj = new Table();//only one object
MyThread1 t1=new MyThread1(obj);
MyThread2 t2=new MyThread2(obj);
t1.start();
t2.start();
}
}
Output: 5
100
10
200
15
300
20
400
25
500
Java synchronized method

If you declare any method as synchronized, it is known as synchronized method.

Synchronized method is used to lock an object for any shared resource.

When a thread invokes a synchronized method, it automatically acquires the lock for that object
and releases it when the thread completes its task.

//example of java synchronized method

class Table{
synchronized void printTable(int n){//synchronized method
for(int i=1;i<=5;i++){
System.out.println(n*i);
try{
Thread.sleep(400);
}
catch(Exception e){
System.out.println(e);
}
}
}
}
class MyThread1 extends Thread{
Table t;
MyThread1(Table t){
this.t=t;
 }
public void run(){
t.printTable(5);
}
}
class MyThread2 extends Thread{
Table t;
MyThread2(Table t){
this.t=t;
}
public void run(){
t.printTable(100);
}
}
public class TestSynchronization2{
public static void main(String args[]){
Table obj = new Table();//only one object
MyThread1 t1=new MyThread1(obj);
MyThread2 t2=new MyThread2(obj);
t1.start();
t2.start();
}
}
Output:5
10
15
20
25
100
200
300
400
500

Synchronized block in java

Synchronized block can be used to perform synchronization on any specific resource of the
method.

Suppose you have 50 lines of code in your method, but you want to synchronize only 5 lines,
you can use synchronized block.

If you put all the codes of the method in the synchronized block, it will work same as the
synchronized method.
Points to remember for Synchronized block
 Synchronized block is used to lock an object for any shared resource.
 Scope of synchronized block is smaller than the method.

Syntax to use synchronized block

synchronized (object reference expression) {
//code block
}
Example of synchronized block

Let's see the simple example of synchronized block.

Program of synchronized block

class Table{
void printTable(int n){
synchronized(this){//synchronized block
for(int i=1;i<=5;i++){
System.out.println(n*i);
try{
Thread.sleep(400);
}
catch(Exception e){
System.out.println(e);
}
}
}
}//end of the method
}
class MyThread1 extends Thread{
Table t;
MyThread1(Table t){
this.t=t;
}
public void run(){
t.printTable(5);
}
}
class MyThread2 extends Thread{
Table t;
MyThread2(Table t){
this.t=t;
}
 public void run(){
t.printTable(100);
}
}
public class TestSynchronizedBlock1{
public static void main(String args[]){
Table obj = new Table();//only one object
MyThread1 t1=new MyThread1(obj);
MyThread2 t2=new MyThread2(obj);
t1.start();
t2.start();
}
}
Output:5
10
15
20
25
100
200
300
400
500
Static synchronization

If you make any static method as synchronized, the lock will be on the class not on object.

Problem without static synchronization

Suppose there are two objects of a shared class (e.g. Table) named object1 and object2.In case
of synchronized method and synchronized block there cannot be interference between t1 and t2
or t3 and t4 because t1 and t2 both refer to a common object that have a single lock. But there
can be interference between t1 and t3 or t2 and t4 because t1 acquires another lock and t3
acquires another lock. We want no interference between t1 and t3 or t2 and t4. Static
synchronization solves this problem.

Example of static synchronization

In this example we are applying synchronized keyword on the static method to perform static
synchronization.

class Table{
synchronized static void printTable(int n){
for(int i=1;i<=10;i++){
System.out.println(n*i);
try{
Thread.sleep(400);
}
catch(Exception e){}
}
}
}
class MyThread1 extends Thread{
public void run(){
Table.printTable(1);
}
}
class MyThread2 extends Thread{
public void run(){
Table.printTable(10);
}
}
class MyThread3 extends Thread{
public void run(){
Table.printTable(100);
}
}

class MyThread4 extends Thread{

public void run(){
Table.printTable(1000);
}
}
public class TestSynchronization4{
public static void main(String t[]){
MyThread1 t1=new MyThread1();
 MyThread2 t2=new MyThread2();
MyThread3 t3=new MyThread3();
MyThread4 t4=new MyThread4();
t1.start();
t2.start();
t3.start();
t4.start();
}
}
Output:1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
 6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
Deadlock in java
Deadlock in java is a part of multithreading. Deadlock can occur in a situation when a thread is
waiting for an object lock, that is acquired by another thread and second thread is waiting for an
object lock that is acquired by first thread. Since, both threads are waiting for each other to
release the lock, the condition is called deadlock.

Example of Deadlock in java

public class TestDeadlockExample1 {

public static void main(String[] args) {
final String resource1 = "ratan jaiswal";
final String resource2 = "vimal jaiswal";
// t1 tries to lock resource1 then resource2
Thread t1 = new Thread() {
public void run() {
synchronized (resource1) {
System.out.println("Thread 1: locked resource 1");
try {
Thread.sleep(100);
}
catch (Exception e) {}
synchronized (resource2) {
System.out.println("Thread 1: locked resource 2");
}
}
}
};
// t2 tries to lock resource2 then resource1
Thread t2 = new Thread() {
public void run() {
synchronized (resource2) {
System.out.println("Thread 2: locked resource 2");
try {
 Thread.sleep(100);
}
catch (Exception e) {}
synchronized (resource1) {
System.out.println("Thread 2: locked resource 1");
}
}
}
};
t1.start();
t2.start();
}
}
Output:Thread 1: locked resource 1
Thread 2: locked resource 2

Inter-thread communication in Java

Inter-thread communication or Co-operation is all about allowing synchronized threads to

communicate with each other.

Cooperation (Inter-thread communication) is a mechanism in which a thread is paused running

in its critical section and another thread is allowed to enter (or lock) in the same critical section
to be executed. It is implemented by following methods of Object class:

 wait()

 notify()

 notifyAll()

1) wait() method

Causes current thread to release the lock and wait until either another thread invokes the notify()
method or the notifyAll() method for this object, or a specified amount of time has elapsed.

The current thread must own this object's monitor, so it must be called from the synchronized
method only otherwise it will throw exception.

Method Description
public final void wait()throws InterruptedException waits until object is notified.
public final void wait(long timeout)throws waits for the specified amount of
InterruptedException time.
2) notify() method

Wakes up a single thread that is waiting on this object's monitor. If any threads are waiting on
this object, one of them is chosen to be awakened. The choice is arbitrary and occurs at the
discretion of the implementation. Syntax:

public final void notify()

3) notifyAll() method

Wakes up all threads that are waiting on this object's monitor. Syntax:

public final void notifyAll()

Understanding the process of inter-thread communication

The point to point explanation of the above diagram is as follows:

1. Threads enter to acquire lock.

2. Lock is acquired by on thread.

3. Now thread goes to waiting state if you call wait() method on the object. Otherwise it
releases the lock and exits.

4. If you call notify() or notifyAll() method, thread moves to the notified state (runnable
state).

5. Now thread is available to acquire lock.

6. After completion of the task, thread releases the lock and exits the monitor state of the
object.
Why wait(), notify() and notifyAll() methods are defined in Object class not Thread class?

It is because they are related to lock and object has a lock.

Difference between wait and sleep?

Let's see the important differences between wait and sleep methods.

wait() sleep()
wait() method releases the lock sleep() method doesn't release the lock.
is the method of Object class is the method of Thread class
is the non-static method is the static method
is the non-static method is the static method
should be notified by notify() or notifyAll() after the specified amount of time, sleep is
methods completed.

Example of inter thread communication in java

Let's see the simple example of inter thread communication.

class Customer{
int amount=10000;
synchronized void withdraw(int amount){
System.out.println("going to withdraw...");
if(this.amount<amount){
System.out.println("Less balance; waiting for deposit...");
try{
wait();
}
catch(Exception e){}
}
this.amount-=amount;
System.out.println("withdraw completed...");
}
synchronized void deposit(int amount){
System.out.println("going to deposit...");
this.amount+=amount;
System.out.println("deposit completed... ");
notify();
}
}
class Test{
public static void main(String args[]){
final Customer c=new Customer();
 new Thread(){
public void run(){
c.withdraw(15000);
}
}.start();
new Thread(){
public void run(){
c.deposit(10000);
}
}.start();
}
}
Output:going to withdraw...
Less balance; waiting for deposit...
going to deposit...
deposit completed...
withdraw completed