Java volatile reference vs. AtomicReference

Question

Is there any difference between a volatile Object reference and AtomicReference in case I would just use get() and set()-

Answer 1

Short answer is: No.

From the java.util.concurrent.atomic package documentation. To quote:

The memory effects for accesses and updates of atomics generally follow the rules for volatiles:

• get has the memory effects of reading a volatile variable.
• set has the memory effects of writing (assigning) a volatile variable.

By the way, that documentation is very good and everything is explained.

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AtomicReference::lazySet is a newer (Java 6+) operation introduced that has semantics unachievable through volatile variables. See this post for more information.