• volatile变量

在Java语言中,volatile变量提供了一种轻量级的同步机制,volatile变量用来确保将变量的更新操作通知到其它线程,volatile变量不会被缓存到寄存器或者对其它处理器不可见的地方,所以在读取volatile变量时总会返回最新写入的值,volatile变量通常用来表示某个状态标识。


  • 原子变量:

原子变量是“更强大的volatile”变量,从实现来看,每个原子变量类的value属性都是一个volatile变量,所以volatile变量的特性原子变量也有。同时,原子变量提供读、改、写的原子操作,更强大,更符合一般并发场景的需求。


既然原子变量更强大,是否还有必要使用volatile变量?如果有什么时候选择volatile变量,什么时候选择原子变量?当然这种选择只有在多线程并发的场景下才会出现,而多线程并发的目的一般是为了提高吞吐量和减少延迟响应,所以还是先看段测试代码和运行结果吧!

import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
public class TestVolatile {
    private static int CALC_TIME = 1000;
    private static final int THREAD_NUM = 100;
    private AtomicInteger ai;
    private int i;
    private volatile int vi;
                                                                                                                                                                                                          
    public TestVolatile(){
        ai = new AtomicInteger(0);
        i = 0;
        vi = 0;
    }
    public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
        System.out.println("Calculation Times:" + CALC_TIME + " ----------------------");
        test();
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        CALC_TIME = 10000;
        System.out.println("Calculation Times:" + CALC_TIME + " ----------------------");
        test();
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        CALC_TIME = 100000;
        System.out.println("Calculation Times:" + CALC_TIME + " ----------------------");
        test();
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        CALC_TIME = 1000000;
        System.out.println("Calculation Times:" + CALC_TIME + " ----------------------");
        test();
    }
    private static void test() throws InterruptedException {
        testAi();
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        testI();
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        testVi();
    }
    private static void testAi() throws InterruptedException {
        TestVolatile testVolatile = new TestVolatile();
        CountDownLatch begSignal = new CountDownLatch(1);
        CountDownLatch endSignal = new CountDownLatch(THREAD_NUM);
        for (int i = 0; i < THREAD_NUM; i++) {       
            new Thread( testVolatile.new WorkerAI(begSignal, endSignal) ).start();
        }
        long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        begSignal.countDown();
        endSignal.await();
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        long endTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        System.out.println("Total time consumed by atomic increment : " + (endTime-startTime));
    }
    private static void testI()
            throws InterruptedException {
        TestVolatile testVolatile = new TestVolatile();
        CountDownLatch begSignal = new CountDownLatch(1);
        CountDownLatch endSignal = new CountDownLatch(THREAD_NUM);
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        for (int i = 0; i < THREAD_NUM; i++) {       
            new Thread( testVolatile.new WorkerI(begSignal, endSignal) ).start();
        }
        long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        begSignal.countDown();
        endSignal.await();
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        long endTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        System.out.println("Total time consumed by synchronized increment : " + (endTime-startTime));
    }
                                                                                                                                                                                                          
    private static void testVi()
            throws InterruptedException {
        TestVolatile testVolatile = new TestVolatile();
        CountDownLatch begSignal = new CountDownLatch(1);
        CountDownLatch endSignal = new CountDownLatch(THREAD_NUM);
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        for (int i = 0; i < THREAD_NUM; i++) {       
            new Thread( testVolatile.new WorkerVI(begSignal, endSignal) ).start();
        }
        long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        begSignal.countDown();
        endSignal.await();
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        long endTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
        System.out.println("Total time consumed by volatile increment : " + (endTime-startTime));
    }
    public void incrAi() {
        ai.getAndIncrement();
    }
    public synchronized void incrI() {
        i++;
    }
    /**
     * 这个函数不是线程安全,很可能得到错误的结果,这里只是为了测试读取volatile变量的效率
     */
    public void incrVi() {
        vi++;
    }
    class WorkerAI implements Runnable {
        private CountDownLatch beginSignal;
        private CountDownLatch endSignal;
        public WorkerAI(CountDownLatch begin, CountDownLatch end) {
            this.beginSignal = begin;
            this.endSignal = end;
        }
        @Override
        public void run() {
            try {
                beginSignal.await();
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
            for(int j=0; j<CALC_TIME; j++){
                incrAi();
            }
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
            endSignal.countDown();
        }
    }
    class WorkerI implements Runnable {
        private CountDownLatch beginSignal;
        private CountDownLatch endSignal;
        public WorkerI(CountDownLatch begin, CountDownLatch end) {
            this.beginSignal = begin;
            this.endSignal = end;
        }
        @Override
        public void run() {
            try {
                beginSignal.await();
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
            for(int j=0; j<CALC_TIME; j++){
                incrAi();
            }       
            endSignal.countDown();
        }
    }
    class WorkerVI implements Runnable {
        private CountDownLatch beginSignal;
        private CountDownLatch endSignal;
        public WorkerVI(CountDownLatch begin, CountDownLatch end) {
            this.beginSignal = begin;
            this.endSignal = end;
        }
        @Override
        public void run() {
            try {
                beginSignal.await();
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
            for(int j=0; j<CALC_TIME; j++){
                incrVi();
            }
            endSignal.countDown();
        }
    }
}

程序运行结果:

Calculation Times:1000 ----------------------
Total time consumed by atomic increment : 8
Total time consumed by synchronized increment : 6
Total time consumed by volatile increment : 5
Calculation Times:10000 ----------------------
Total time consumed by atomic increment : 23
Total time consumed by synchronized increment : 24
Total time consumed by volatile increment : 15
Calculation Times:100000 ----------------------
Total time consumed by atomic increment : 354
Total time consumed by synchronized increment : 360
Total time consumed by volatile increment : 148
Calculation Times:1000000 ----------------------
Total time consumed by atomic increment : 3579
Total time consumed by synchronized increment : 3608
Total time consumed by volatile increment : 1519


(怀疑自己的程序写得有问题,但暂时找不到问题,请大家帮忙拍砖!)

从测试结果看,原子变量的效率与synchronized同步操作效率差不多,感觉不到优势,volatile变量提升一倍的性能(当然++操作是有同步问题),所以如果volatile变量能满足需求优先使用volatile变量,原子变量次之。那什么时候适合使用volatile变量?专家推荐最佳实践是同时满足以下三个条件:

  1. 对变量的写入操作不依赖变量的当前值,或者能确保只有单个线程更新变量的值

  2. 改变量不会与其他状态变量一起组成不变性的条件

  3. 在访问变量时不需要加锁


个人实践总结:

满足条件的情况下使用volatile布尔变量,其他数据类型使用原子变量。