volatile ensures visibility of variable changes across threads but lacks atomicity, while synchronized provides both visibility and atomicity. Use volatile for single operations without compound actions, like setting flags. Use synchronized for multi-step operations requiring mutual exclusion, such as incrementing counters. Combine both when needed. Prefer AtomicInteger or java.util.concurrent.atomic for performance-critical sections. Prioritize correctness over optimization and profile before adjusting.
When it comes to handling concurrency in Java, volatile
and synchronized
are two commonly used tools — but they do very different things. If you're trying to understand when to use one over the other (or both), here’s what you really need to know.
What volatile
does (and doesn’t do)
The volatile
keyword ensures that a variable's value is always read from and written to main memory, not just cached in a thread's local memory. This guarantees visibility across threads — if one thread changes a volatile variable, all other threads will immediately see that change.
But it does not provide atomicity. For example, incrementing a volatile int
(i
) isn't thread-safe because that operation involves reading, modifying, and writing back a value — and another thread could interfere in between those steps.
Use volatile
when:
- You only have a single operation on the variable (like setting a flag).
- You don't perform compound actions (e.g., check-then-act) based on its value.
How synchronized
works differently
synchronized
provides both visibility and atomicity. When a thread enters a synchronized method or block, it gets a lock and flushes its local cache, ensuring it sees the most up-to-date values from main memory. When it exits, it writes any changes back — so others can see them.
More importantly, it ensures only one thread can execute the synchronized code at a time (assuming they’re using the same lock object). That makes it suitable for operations like incrementing a counter or checking and updating a value together.
You should use synchronized
when:
- Your operation involves multiple steps (like reading and then writing).
- You need mutual exclusion (no two threads doing this at once).
When to pick one over the other
In practice, here’s how to decide:
- Use
volatile
for simple variables where you only set or read the value, and correctness doesn’t depend on the current value. - Use
synchronized
when your logic depends on the current value of a variable and needs to be updated safely.
Sometimes you even need both — like using a synchronized block around a non-volatile variable to ensure atomicity and visibility.
A few real-world examples:
- A shutdown flag in a loop? Probably fine with
volatile
. - A shared counter accessed by multiple threads? Definitely needs
synchronized
or something likeAtomicInteger
.
Performance considerations
Performance-wise, volatile
is generally lighter than synchronized
. It avoids locking overhead and is suitable for cases where contention is low and access patterns are simple.
On the flip side, synchronized
can introduce bottlenecks if overused, especially in high-concurrency environments. But modern JVMs optimize synchronized blocks pretty well, so unless you're in a tight loop under heavy load, it's usually not a big concern.
If you're optimizing for performance:
- Start with correctness first.
- Only optimize after profiling.
- Consider alternatives like
java.util.concurrent.atomic
packages when applicable.
So, basically, think of volatile
as a tool for visibility, and synchronized
as a way to handle both visibility and atomicity. Use them appropriately depending on your data access pattern and thread safety requirements.
That’s it — no magic tricks, just knowing what each does best.
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