Why aren't variables in Java volatile by default?

Question

Possibly similar question:

Do you ever use the volatile keyword in Java?

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Today I was debugging my game; It had a very difficult threading problem that w

Answer 1

While others are correct in pointing out why it would be a bad idea to default to volatile, there's another point to make: there is very likely a bug in your code. Variables seldom need to made volatile: there is always a way to properly synchronize access to variables (either by synchronized keyword, or using AtomicXxx objects from java.util.concurrency): exceptions would include JNI code manipulating these (which is not bound by synchronization directives).

So instead of adding volatile, you may want to figure out WHY it resolved the problem. It isn't the only way to solve it, and there is probably a better way.