is “Double-Checked Locking is Broken” a java-only

Question

the page at http://www.cs.umd.edu/~pugh/java/memoryModel/DoubleCheckedLocking.html says that double-checked locking is flawed in java. I'm just wondering does it also apply to other languages (C#, Vb, C++, etc)

I've read Double checked locking pattern: Broken or not?, Is this broken double checked locking?, How to solve the "Double-Checked Locking is Broken" Declaration in Java? to be truthful i don't know what the common consensus is. some say yes its broken others say no.

Anyway, my question is does it also apply to other languages (C#, Vb, C++, etc)

Answer 1

This wikipedia article covers java, c++ and .net (c#/vb) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-checked_locking

Answer 2

It was flawed in Java, it was fixed in Java 5. The fact that is was broken was more of an implementation issue coupled with a misunderstanding than a technically "bad idea".

Answer 3

This is a tricky question, with a mine-field of contradictory information out there.

A part of the problem is that there are a few variants of double-checked locking:

• The field checked on the fast path may be volatile or not.
• There is a one-field variant and a two-field variant of double-checked locking.

And not only that, different authors have a different definition for what it means that the pattern is "correct".

• Definition #1: A widely accepted specification of the programming language (e.g. ECMA for C#) guarantees that the pattern is correct.
• Definition #2: The pattern works in practice on a particular architecture (typically x86).

As disagreeable as it might seem, a lot of code out there depends on Definition #2.

Let's take C# as an example. In C#, the double-checked pattern (as typically implemented) is correct according to Definition #1 if and only if the field is volatile. But if we consider Definition #2, pretty much all variants are correct on X86 (i.e., happen to work), even if the field is non-volatile. On Itanium, the one-field variant happens to work if the field is non-volatile, but not the two-field variant.

The unfortunate consequence is that you'll find articles making clearly contradictory statements on the correctness of this pattern.

Answer 4

As others have said, this idiom has had its time. FWIW, for lazy initialization, .Net now provides a built-in class: System.Lazy<T> (msdn). Don't know if something similar is available in java though.

Answer 5

Double checked locking is safe in Java, PROVIDED THAT:

1. the instance variable is declared as volatile, AND
2. the JVM correctly implements the JSR-133 specification; i.e. it is compliant with Java 5 and later.

My source is the JSR-133 (Java Memory Model) FAQ - Jeremy Manson and Brian Goetz, February 2004. This is confirmed by Goetz in a number of other places.

However, as Goetz says, this is an idiom whose time has passed. Uncontended synchronization in Java is now fast, so he recommends that you just declare the getInstance() method as synchronized if you need to do lazy initialization. (And I imagine that this applies to other languages too ...)

Besides, all things being equal, it is a bad idea to write code that works in Java 5 but is unreliable in older JVMs.

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OK, so what about the other languages? Well, it depends on how the idiom is implemented, and often on the platform.

• C# - according to https://stackoverflow.com/a/1964832/139985, it is platform dependent whether the instance variable needs to be volatile. However, Wikipedia says that if you do use volatile or explicit memory barriers, the idiom can be implemented safely.

• VB - according to Wikipedia the idiom can be implemented safely using explicit memory barriers.

• C++ - according to Wikipedia the idiom can be implemented safely using volatile in Visual C++ 2005. But other sources say that in general the C++ language specification doesn't provide sufficient guarantees for volatile to be sure. However double-checked locking can be implemented in the context of the C++ 2011 language revision - https://stackoverflow.com/a/6099828/139985.

(Note: I'm just summarizing some sources I found which seem to me to be recent ... and sound. I'm not C++, C# or VB expert. Please read the linked pages and make your own judgements.)