Atomic Variables: Lock-Free Updates

// UNSAFE:
int count = 0;
// Thread A reads count=0, Thread B reads count=0
// Both write 1 — second update lost!
count++; // NOT thread-safe

// SAFE:
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.*;
AtomicInteger atomicCount = new AtomicInteger(0);
atomicCount.incrementAndGet(); // atomic, lock-free

AtomicInteger counter = new AtomicInteger(0);

counter.set(10);                   // set to 10
System.out.println(counter.get()); // 10

int prev = counter.getAndIncrement(); // returns 10, sets to 11
int curr = counter.incrementAndGet(); // sets to 12, returns 12
counter.addAndGet(5);                 // adds 5, returns 17
counter.decrementAndGet();            // subtracts 1, returns 16

AtomicInteger ai = new AtomicInteger(5);

boolean updated = ai.compareAndSet(5, 10); // current==5? set to 10
System.out.println(updated); // true
System.out.println(ai.get()); // 10

boolean failed = ai.compareAndSet(5, 20); // current==10, not 5 → fails
System.out.println(failed); // false
System.out.println(ai.get()); // still 10

AtomicLong seq = new AtomicLong(0);

// Thread-safe sequence generator:
long nextId() {
    return seq.incrementAndGet();
}

System.out.println(nextId()); // 1
System.out.println(nextId()); // 2
System.out.println(nextId()); // 3

AtomicBoolean initialized = new AtomicBoolean(false);

void initOnce() {
    // compareAndSet: only first caller succeeds
    if (initialized.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
        System.out.println("Initializing...");
        // perform expensive init
    } else {
        System.out.println("Already initialized");
    }
}

import java.util.concurrent.atomic.*;

record Config(String host, int port) {}

AtomicReference<Config> configRef =
    new AtomicReference<>(new Config("localhost", 8080));

// Hot-swap the configuration atomically:
Config oldConfig = configRef.get();
Config newConfig = new Config("prod.example.com", 443);

boolean swapped = configRef.compareAndSet(oldConfig, newConfig);
System.out.println(swapped); // true
System.out.println(configRef.get()); // Config[host=prod.example.com, port=443]

AtomicInteger value = new AtomicInteger(10);

// Apply function atomically: square the value
int newVal = value.updateAndGet(x -> x * x);
System.out.println(newVal); // 100

// Get old, then apply:
int old = value.getAndUpdate(x -> x + 1);
System.out.println(old);   // 100
System.out.println(value.get()); // 101

AtomicInteger max = new AtomicInteger(0);

// Keep running maximum:
max.accumulateAndGet(42, Math::max); // max(0, 42) = 42
max.accumulateAndGet(15, Math::max); // max(42, 15) = 42
max.accumulateAndGet(99, Math::max); // max(42, 99) = 99

System.out.println(max.get()); // 99

import java.util.concurrent.atomic.*;

LongAdder adder = new LongAdder();

// Multiple threads can call add() with minimal contention:
adder.increment();
adder.add(5);
adder.increment();

System.out.println(adder.sum()); // 7
// Note: sum() is NOT atomic with add() — use only when no concurrent adds

AtomicIntegerArray arr = new AtomicIntegerArray(5);

arr.set(0, 10);
arr.incrementAndGet(0);
arr.compareAndSet(2, 0, 42); // index 2: if 0, set 42

System.out.println(arr.get(0)); // 11
System.out.println(arr.get(2)); // 42