Simple Deadlock Examples

Question

I would like to explain threading deadlocks to newbies. I have seen many examples for deadlocks in the past, some using code and some using illustrations (like the famous 4

Answer 1

One more simple deadlock example with two different resources and two thread waiting for each other to release resource. Directly from examples.oreilly.com/jenut/Deadlock.java

 public class Deadlock {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // These are the two resource objects we'll try to get locks for
    final Object resource1 = "resource1";
    final Object resource2 = "resource2";
    // Here's the first thread.  It tries to lock resource1 then resource2
    Thread t1 = new Thread() {
      public void run() {
        // Lock resource 1
        synchronized(resource1) {
          System.out.println("Thread 1: locked resource 1");

          // Pause for a bit, simulating some file I/O or something.  
          // Basically, we just want to give the other thread a chance to
          // run.  Threads and deadlock are asynchronous things, but we're
          // trying to force deadlock to happen here...
          try { Thread.sleep(50); } catch (InterruptedException e) {}

          // Now wait 'till we can get a lock on resource 2
          synchronized(resource2) {
            System.out.println("Thread 1: locked resource 2");
          }
        }
      }
    };

    // Here's the second thread.  It tries to lock resource2 then resource1
    Thread t2 = new Thread() {
      public void run() {
        // This thread locks resource 2 right away
        synchronized(resource2) {
          System.out.println("Thread 2: locked resource 2");

          // Then it pauses, for the same reason as the first thread does
          try { Thread.sleep(50); } catch (InterruptedException e) {}

          // Then it tries to lock resource1.  But wait!  Thread 1 locked
          // resource1, and won't release it 'till it gets a lock on
          // resource2.  This thread holds the lock on resource2, and won't
          // release it 'till it gets resource1.  We're at an impasse. Neither
          // thread can run, and the program freezes up.
          synchronized(resource1) {
            System.out.println("Thread 2: locked resource 1");
          }
        }
      }
    };

    // Start the two threads. If all goes as planned, deadlock will occur, 
    // and the program will never exit.
    t1.start(); 
    t2.start();
  }
}