Good example of livelock?

Question

I understand what livelock is, but I was wondering if anyone had a good code-based example of it? And by code-based, I do not mean \"two people trying to get p

Answer 1

I coded up the example of 2 persons passing in a corridor. The two threads will avoid each other as soon as they realise their directions are the same.

public class LiveLock {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
        Object left = new Object();
        Object right = new Object();
        Pedestrian one = new Pedestrian(left, right, 0); //one's left is one's left
        Pedestrian two = new Pedestrian(right, left, 1); //one's left is two's right, so have to swap order
        one.setOther(two);
        two.setOther(one);
        one.start();
        two.start();
    }
}

class Pedestrian extends Thread {
    private Object l;
    private Object r;
    private Pedestrian other;
    private Object current;

    Pedestrian (Object left, Object right, int firstDirection) {
        l = left;
        r = right;
        if (firstDirection==0) {
            current = l;
        }
        else {
            current = r;
        }
    }

    void setOther(Pedestrian otherP) {
        other = otherP;
    }

    Object getDirection() {
        return current;
    }

    Object getOppositeDirection() {
        if (current.equals(l)) {
            return r;
        }
        else {
            return l;
        }
    }

    void switchDirection() throws InterruptedException {
        Thread.sleep(100);
        current = getOppositeDirection();
        System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " is stepping aside.");
    }

    public void run() {
        while (getDirection().equals(other.getDirection())) {
            try {
                switchDirection();
                Thread.sleep(100);
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {}
        }
    }
}