Java How to Program (early objects), 9/e

26.9 Producer/Consumer Relationship: The Lock and Condition Interfaces

Though the synchronized keyword provides for most basic thread-synchronization needs, Java provides other tools to assist in developing concurrent programs. In this section, we discuss the Lock and Condition interfaces. These interfaces give you more precise control over thread synchronization, but are more complicated to use.

Interface Lock and Class ReentrantLock

Any object can contain a reference to an object that implements the Lock interface (of package java.util.concurrent.locks). A thread calls the Lock’s lock method (analogous to entering a synchronized block) to acquire the lock. Once a Lock has been obtained by one thread, the Lock object will not allow another ...