Concurrency Problems

Because threads run at the same time as other parts of the program, there is no way to know in which order the code will run. When the threads and main program are reading and writing the same variables, the values are unpredictable. The problems that result from this are called concurrency problems.

Example

A code example where the value of the variable amount is unpredictable:

public class Main extends Thread {
  public static int amount = 0;

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Main thread = new Main();
    thread.start();
    System.out.println(amount);
    amount++;
    System.out.println(amount);
  }

  public void run() {
    amount++;
  }
}

To avoid concurrency problems, it is best to share as few attributes between threads as possible. If attributes need to be shared, one possible solution is to use the isAlive() method of the thread to check whether the thread has finished running before using any attributes that the thread can change.

Example

Use isAlive() to prevent concurrency problems:

public class Main extends Thread {
  public static int amount = 0;

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Main thread = new Main();
    thread.start();
    // Wait for the thread to finish
    while(thread.isAlive()) {
    System.out.println("Waiting...");
  }
  // Update amount and print its value
  System.out.println("Main: " + amount);
  amount++;
  System.out.println("Main: " + amount);
  }
  public void run() {
    amount++;
  }
}

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