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Lock.javaAPI DocAndroid 1.5 API13897Wed May 06 22:41:02 BST 2009java.util.concurrent.locks

Lock.java

/*
 * Written by Doug Lea with assistance from members of JCP JSR-166
 * Expert Group and released to the public domain, as explained at
 * http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain
 */

package java.util.concurrent.locks;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

/**
 * <tt>Lock</tt> implementations provide more extensive locking
 * operations than can be obtained using <tt>synchronized</tt> methods
 * and statements.  They allow more flexible structuring, may have
 * quite different properties, and may support multiple associated
 * {@link Condition} objects.
 *
 * <p>A lock is a tool for controlling access to a shared resource by
 * multiple threads. Commonly, a lock provides exclusive access to a
 * shared resource: only one thread at a time can acquire the lock and
 * all access to the shared resource requires that the lock be
 * acquired first. However, some locks may allow concurrent access to
 * a shared resource, such as the read lock of a {@link
 * ReadWriteLock}.
 *
 * <p>The use of <tt>synchronized</tt> methods or statements provides 
 * access to the implicit monitor lock associated with every object, but
 * forces all lock acquisition and release to occur in a block-structured way:
 * when multiple locks are acquired they must be released in the opposite
 * order, and all locks must be released in the same lexical scope in which
 * they were acquired.
 *
 * <p>While the scoping mechanism for <tt>synchronized</tt> methods
 * and statements makes it much easier to program with monitor locks,
 * and helps avoid many common programming errors involving locks,
 * there are occasions where you need to work with locks in a more
 * flexible way. For example, some algorithms for traversing
 * concurrently accessed data structures require the use of
 * "hand-over-hand" or "chain locking": you
 * acquire the lock of node A, then node B, then release A and acquire
 * C, then release B and acquire D and so on.  Implementations of the
 * <tt>Lock</tt> interface enable the use of such techniques by
 * allowing a lock to be acquired and released in different scopes,
 * and allowing multiple locks to be acquired and released in any
 * order.
 *
 * <p>With this increased flexibility comes additional
 * responsibility. The absence of block-structured locking removes the
 * automatic release of locks that occurs with <tt>synchronized</tt>
 * methods and statements. In most cases, the following idiom
 * should be used:
 *
 * <pre><tt>     Lock l = ...; 
 *     l.lock();
 *     try {
 *         // access the resource protected by this lock
 *     } finally {
 *         l.unlock();
 *     }
 * </tt></pre>
 *
 * When locking and unlocking occur in different scopes, care must be
 * taken to ensure that all code that is executed while the lock is
 * held is protected by try-finally or try-catch to ensure that the
 * lock is released when necessary.
 *
 * <p><tt>Lock</tt> implementations provide additional functionality
 * over the use of <tt>synchronized</tt> methods and statements by
 * providing a non-blocking attempt to acquire a lock ({@link
 * #tryLock()}), an attempt to acquire the lock that can be
 * interrupted ({@link #lockInterruptibly}, and an attempt to acquire
 * the lock that can timeout ({@link #tryLock(long, TimeUnit)}).
 *
 * <p>A <tt>Lock</tt> class can also provide behavior and semantics
 * that is quite different from that of the implicit monitor lock,
 * such as guaranteed ordering, non-reentrant usage, or deadlock
 * detection. If an implementation provides such specialized semantics
 * then the implementation must document those semantics.
 *
 * <p>Note that <tt>Lock</tt> instances are just normal objects and can 
 * themselves be used as the target in a <tt>synchronized</tt> statement.
 * Acquiring the
 * monitor lock of a <tt>Lock</tt> instance has no specified relationship
 * with invoking any of the {@link #lock} methods of that instance. 
 * It is recommended that to avoid confusion you never use <tt>Lock</tt>
 * instances in this way, except within their own implementation.
 *
 * <p>Except where noted, passing a <tt>null</tt> value for any
 * parameter will result in a {@link NullPointerException} being
 * thrown.
 *
 * <h3>Memory Synchronization</h3>
 * <p>All <tt>Lock</tt> implementations <em>must</em> enforce the same
 * memory synchronization semantics as provided by the built-in monitor lock:
 * <ul>
 * <li>A successful lock operation acts like a successful 
 * <tt>monitorEnter</tt> action
 * <li>A successful <tt>unlock</tt> operation acts like a successful
 * <tt>monitorExit</tt> action
 * </ul>
 *
 * Unsuccessful locking and unlocking operations, and reentrant
 * locking/unlocking operations, do not require any memory
 * synchronization effects.
 *
 * <h3>Implementation Considerations</h3>
 *
 * <p> The three forms of lock acquisition (interruptible,
 * non-interruptible, and timed) may differ in their performance
 * characteristics, ordering guarantees, or other implementation
 * qualities.  Further, the ability to interrupt the <em>ongoing</em>
 * acquisition of a lock may not be available in a given <tt>Lock</tt>
 * class.  Consequently, an implementation is not required to define
 * exactly the same guarantees or semantics for all three forms of
 * lock acquisition, nor is it required to support interruption of an
 * ongoing lock acquisition.  An implementation is required to clearly
 * document the semantics and guarantees provided by each of the
 * locking methods. It must also obey the interruption semantics as
 * defined in this interface, to the extent that interruption of lock
 * acquisition is supported: which is either totally, or only on
 * method entry.
 *
 * <p>As interruption generally implies cancellation, and checks for 
 * interruption are often infrequent, an implementation can favor responding
 * to an interrupt over normal method return. This is true even if it can be
 * shown that the interrupt occurred after another action may have unblocked
 * the thread. An implementation should document this behavior. 
 *
 *
 * @see ReentrantLock
 * @see Condition
 * @see ReadWriteLock
 *
 * @since 1.5
 * @author Doug Lea
 *
 **/
public interface Lock {

    /**
     * Acquires the lock.
     * <p>If the lock is not available then
     * the current thread becomes disabled for thread scheduling 
     * purposes and lies dormant until the lock has been acquired.
     * <p><b>Implementation Considerations</b>
     * <p>A <tt>Lock</tt> implementation may be able to detect 
     * erroneous use of the lock, such as an invocation that would cause 
     * deadlock, and may throw an (unchecked) exception in such circumstances. 
     * The circumstances and the exception type must be documented by that 
     * <tt>Lock</tt> implementation.
     *
     **/
    void lock();

    /**
     * Acquires the lock unless the current thread is  
     * {@link Thread#interrupt interrupted}. 
     * <p>Acquires the lock if it is available and returns immediately.
     * <p>If the lock is not available then
     * the current thread becomes disabled for thread scheduling 
     * purposes and lies dormant until one of two things happens:
     * <ul>
     * <li>The lock is acquired by the current thread; or
     * <li>Some other thread {@link Thread#interrupt interrupts} the current
     * thread, and interruption of lock acquisition is supported.
     * </ul>
     * <p>If the current thread:
     * <ul>
     * <li>has its interrupted status set on entry to this method; or 
     * <li>is {@link Thread#interrupt interrupted} while acquiring 
     * the lock, and interruption of lock acquisition is supported, 
     * </ul>
     * then {@link InterruptedException} is thrown and the current thread's 
     * interrupted status is cleared. 
     *
     * <p><b>Implementation Considerations</b>
     *
     * <p>The ability to interrupt a lock acquisition in some
     * implementations may not be possible, and if possible may be an
     * expensive operation.  The programmer should be aware that this
     * may be the case. An implementation should document when this is
     * the case.
     *
     * <p>An implementation can favor responding to an interrupt over
     * normal method return.
     *
     * <p>A <tt>Lock</tt> implementation may be able to detect
     * erroneous use of the lock, such as an invocation that would
     * cause deadlock, and may throw an (unchecked) exception in such
     * circumstances.  The circumstances and the exception type must
     * be documented by that <tt>Lock</tt> implementation.
     *
     * @throws InterruptedException if the current thread is interrupted
     * while acquiring the lock (and interruption of lock acquisition is 
     * supported).
     *
     * @see Thread#interrupt
     *
     **/
    void lockInterruptibly() throws InterruptedException;


    /**
     * Acquires the lock only if it is free at the time of invocation.
     * <p>Acquires the lock if it is available and returns immediately
     * with the value <tt>true</tt>.
     * If the lock is not available then this method will return 
     * immediately with the value <tt>false</tt>.
     * <p>A typical usage idiom for this method would be:
     * <pre>
     *      Lock lock = ...;
     *      if (lock.tryLock()) {
     *          try {
     *              // manipulate protected state
     *          } finally {
     *              lock.unlock();
     *          }
     *      } else {
     *          // perform alternative actions
     *      }
     * </pre>
     * This usage ensures that the lock is unlocked if it was acquired, and
     * doesn't try to unlock if the lock was not acquired.
     *
     * @return <tt>true</tt> if the lock was acquired and <tt>false</tt>
     * otherwise.
     **/
    boolean tryLock();

    /**
     * Acquires the lock if it is free within the given waiting time and the
     * current thread has not been {@link Thread#interrupt interrupted}.
     *
     * <p>If the lock is available this method returns immediately
     * with the value <tt>true</tt>.
     * If the lock is not available then
     * the current thread becomes disabled for thread scheduling 
     * purposes and lies dormant until one of three things happens:
     * <ul>
     * <li>The lock is acquired by the current thread; or
     * <li>Some other thread {@link Thread#interrupt interrupts} the current
     * thread, and interruption of lock acquisition is supported; or
     * <li>The specified waiting time elapses
     * </ul>
     * <p>If the lock is acquired then the value <tt>true</tt> is returned.
     * <p>If the current thread:
     * <ul>
     * <li>has its interrupted status set on entry to this method; or 
     * <li>is {@link Thread#interrupt interrupted} while acquiring 
     * the lock, and interruption of lock acquisition is supported, 
     * </ul>
     * then {@link InterruptedException} is thrown and the current thread's 
     * interrupted status is cleared. 
     * <p>If the specified waiting time elapses then the value <tt>false</tt>
     * is returned.
     * If the time is 
     * less than or equal to zero, the method will not wait at all.
     *
     * <p><b>Implementation Considerations</b>
     * <p>The ability to interrupt a lock acquisition in some implementations
     * may not be possible, and if possible may 
     * be an expensive operation. 
     * The programmer should be aware that this may be the case. An
     * implementation should document when this is the case.
     * <p>An implementation can favor responding to an interrupt over normal 
     * method return, or reporting a timeout.
     * <p>A <tt>Lock</tt> implementation may be able to detect 
     * erroneous use of the lock, such as an invocation that would cause 
     * deadlock, and may throw an (unchecked) exception in such circumstances. 
     * The circumstances and the exception type must be documented by that 
     * <tt>Lock</tt> implementation.
     *
     * @param time the maximum time to wait for the lock
     * @param unit the time unit of the <tt>time</tt> argument.
     * @return <tt>true</tt> if the lock was acquired and <tt>false</tt>
     * if the waiting time elapsed before the lock was acquired.
     *
     * @throws InterruptedException if the current thread is interrupted
     * while acquiring the lock (and interruption of lock acquisition is 
     * supported).
     *
     * @see Thread#interrupt
     *
     **/
    boolean tryLock(long time, TimeUnit unit) throws InterruptedException;

    /**
     * Releases the lock.
     * <p><b>Implementation Considerations</b>
     * <p>A <tt>Lock</tt> implementation will usually impose
     * restrictions on which thread can release a lock (typically only the
     * holder of the lock can release it) and may throw
     * an (unchecked) exception if the restriction is violated.
     * Any restrictions and the exception
     * type must be documented by that <tt>Lock</tt> implementation.
     **/
    void unlock();

    /**
     * Returns a new {@link Condition} instance that is bound to this 
     * <tt>Lock</tt> instance.
     * <p>Before waiting on the condition the lock must be held by the 
     * current thread. 
     * A call to {@link Condition#await()} will atomically release the lock 
     * before waiting and re-acquire the lock before the wait returns.
     * <p><b>Implementation Considerations</b>
     * <p>The exact operation of the {@link Condition} instance depends on the
     * <tt>Lock</tt> implementation and must be documented by that
     * implementation.
     * 
     * @return A new {@link Condition} instance for this <tt>Lock</tt> 
     * instance.
     * @throws UnsupportedOperationException if this <tt>Lock</tt> 
     * implementation does not support conditions.
     **/
    Condition newCondition();

}