What is StampedLock in Java?

Question

I am working on a Java code, I need to implement threading in it. I was going through JAVA 8 API and I come to know about Stamped Locks. Can anyone tell me why to use Stampe

Answer 1

The API documentation for java.util.concurrent.locks.StampedLock says:

StampedLocks are designed for use as internal utilities in the development of thread-safe components. Their use relies on knowledge of the internal properties of the data, objects, and methods they are protecting. They are not reentrant, so locked bodies should not call other unknown methods that may try to re-acquire locks (although you may pass a stamp to other methods that can use or convert it). The use of read lock modes relies on the associated code sections being side-effect-free. Unvalidated optimistic read sections cannot call methods that are not known to tolerate potential inconsistencies. Stamps use finite representations, and are not cryptographically secure (i.e., a valid stamp may be guessable). Stamp values may recycle after (no sooner than) one year of continuous operation. A stamp held without use or validation for longer than this period may fail to validate correctly. StampedLocks are serializable, but always deserialize into initial unlocked state, so they are not useful for remote locking.

e.g. -

 class Point {
   private double x, y;
   private final StampedLock sl = new StampedLock();

   void move(double deltaX, double deltaY) { // an exclusively locked method
     long stamp = sl.writeLock();
     try {
       x += deltaX;
       y += deltaY;
     } finally {
       sl.unlockWrite(stamp);
     }
   }

   double distanceFromOrigin() { // A read-only method
     long stamp = sl.tryOptimisticRead();
     double currentX = x, currentY = y;
     if (!sl.validate(stamp)) {
        stamp = sl.readLock();
        try {
          currentX = x;
          currentY = y;
        } finally {
           sl.unlockRead(stamp);
        }
     }
     return Math.sqrt(currentX * currentX + currentY * currentY);
   }

   void moveIfAtOrigin(double newX, double newY) { // upgrade
     // Could instead start with optimistic, not read mode
     long stamp = sl.readLock();
     try {
       while (x == 0.0 && y == 0.0) {
         long ws = sl.tryConvertToWriteLock(stamp);
         if (ws != 0L) {
           stamp = ws;
           x = newX;
           y = newY;
           break;
         }
         else {
           sl.unlockRead(stamp);
           stamp = sl.writeLock();
         }
       }
     } finally {
       sl.unlock(stamp);
     }
   }
 }