Java ReentrantReadWriteLocks - how to safely acquire write lock?

Question

I am using in my code at the moment a ReentrantReadWriteLock to synchronize access over a tree-like structure. This structure is large, and read by many threads at once wit

Answer 1

Use the "fair" flag on the ReentrantReadWriteLock. "fair" means that lock requests are served on first come, first served. You could experience performance depredation since when you'll issue a "write" request, all of the subsequent "read" requests will be locked, even if they could have been served while the pre-existing read locks are still locked.