[In-depth understanding of multithreading] The implementation principle of Synchronized (1)

synchronized, is a very important keyword in Java to solve data synchronization access in concurrent situations. When we want to ensure that a shared resource can only be accessed by one thread at a time, we can use synchronizedkeywords in the code to lock the class or object. So, this article will introduce synchronizedthe implementation principle of keywords. Before reading this article, it is recommended to first look at how the Java virtual machine performs thread synchronization  .

decompile

As we all know, in Java, synchronizedthere are two forms of usage, synchronized methods and synchronized code blocks. code show as below:

/**
 * @author Hollis 17/11/9.
 */
public class SynchronizedTest {

    public synchronized void doSth(){
        System.out.println("Hello World");
    }

    public void doSth1(){
        synchronized (SynchronizedTest.class){
            System.out.println("Hello World");
        }
    }
}

Let's first use Javap to decompile the above code, and the results are as follows (some useless information is filtered out):

  public synchronized void doSth();
    descriptor: ()V
    flags: ACC_PUBLIC, ACC_SYNCHRONIZED
    Code:
      stack=2, locals=1, args_size=1
         0: getstatic     #2                  // Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
         3: ldc           #3                  // String Hello World
         5: invokevirtual #4                  // Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(Ljava/lang/String;)V
         8: return

  public void doSth1();
    descriptor: ()V
    flags: ACC_PUBLIC
    Code:
      stack=2, locals=3, args_size=1
         0: ldc           #5                  // class com/hollis/SynchronizedTest
         2: dup
         3: astore_1
         4: monitorenter
         5: getstatic     #2                  // Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
         8: ldc           #3                  // String Hello World
        10: invokevirtual #4                  // Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(Ljava/lang/String;)V
        13: aload_1
        14: monitorexit
        15: goto          23
        18: astore_2
        19: aload_1
        20: monitorexit
        21: aload_2
        22: athrow
        23: return

After decompilation , we can see the bytecode generated for us by the Java compiler. There is a slight difference in the handling of doSthand . doSth1That is to say. The JVM treats synchronized methods and synchronized code blocks differently.

For synchronized methods, the JVM uses ACC_SYNCHRONIZEDmarkers to achieve synchronization. For synchronized code blocks. The JVM uses two instructions monitorenterto monitorexitachieve synchronization.

Regarding this part, the relevant description can also be found in the JVM specification.

Synchronized method

The Java® Virtual Machine Specification describes method-level synchronization:

Method-level synchronization is performed implicitly, as part of method invocation and return. A synchronized method is distinguished in the run-time constant pool's methodinfo structure by the ACCSYNCHRONIZED flag, which is checked by the method invocation instructions. When invoking a method for which ACC_SYNCHRONIZED is set, the executing thread enters a monitor, invokes the method itself, and exits the monitor whether the method invocation completes normally or abruptly. During the time the executing thread owns the monitor, no other thread may enter it. If an exception is thrown during invocation of the synchronized method and the synchronized method does not handle the exception, the monitor for the method is automatically exited before the exception is rethrown out of the synchronized method.

主要说的是： 方法级的同步是隐式的。同步方法的常量池中会有一个ACC_SYNCHRONIZED标志。当某个线程要访问某个方法的时候，会检查是否有ACC_SYNCHRONIZED，如果有设置，则需要先获得监视器锁，然后开始执行方法，方法执行之后再释放监视器锁。这时如果其他线程来请求执行方法，会因为无法获得监视器锁而被阻断住。值得注意的是，如果在方法执行过程中，发生了异常，并且方法内部并没有处理该异常，那么在异常被抛到方法外面之前监视器锁会被自动释放。

同步代码块

同步代码块使用monitorenter和monitorexit两个指令实现。 The Java® Virtual Machine Specification 中有关于这两个指令的介绍：

monitorenter

Each object is associated with a monitor. A monitor is locked if and only if it has an owner. The thread that executes monitorenter attempts to gain ownership of the monitor associated with objectref, as follows:

If the entry count of the monitor associated with objectref is zero, the thread enters the monitor and sets its entry count to one. The thread is then the owner of the monitor.

If the thread already owns the monitor associated with objectref, it reenters the monitor, incrementing its entry count.

If another thread already owns the monitor associated with objectref, the thread blocks until the monitor's entry count is zero, then tries again to gain ownership.

monitorexit

The thread that executes monitorexit must be the owner of the monitor associated with the instance referenced by objectref.

The thread decrements the entry count of the monitor associated with objectref. If as a result the value of the entry count is zero, the thread exits the monitor and is no longer its owner. Other threads that are blocking to enter the monitor are allowed to attempt to do so.

大致内容如下： 可以把执行monitorenter指令理解为加锁，执行monitorexit理解为释放锁。 每个对象维护着一个记录着被锁次数的计数器。未被锁定的对象的该计数器为0，当一个线程获得锁（执行monitorenter）后，该计数器自增变为 1 ，当同一个线程再次获得该对象的锁的时候，计数器再次自增。当同一个线程释放锁（执行monitorexit指令）的时候，计数器再自减。当计数器为0的时候。锁将被释放，其他线程便可以获得锁。

总结

同步方法通过ACC_SYNCHRONIZED关键字隐式的对方法进行加锁。当线程要执行的方法被标注上ACC_SYNCHRONIZED时，需要先获得锁才能执行该方法。

同步代码块通过monitorenter和monitorexit执行来进行加锁。当线程执行到monitorenter的时候要先获得所锁，才能执行后面的方法。当线程执行到monitorexit的时候则要释放锁。

每个对象自身维护这一个被加锁次数的计数器，当计数器数字为0时表示可以被任意线程获得锁。当计数器不为0时，只有获得锁的线程才能再次获得锁。即可重入锁。

至此，我们大致了解了Synchronized的原理。但是还有几个问题并没有介绍清楚，比如，Monitor到底是什么？对象的锁的状态保存在哪里？ 别急，后面会再介绍。