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Semaphore

03 Feb 2017   Java  #java  #threads 

A Semaphore synchronizes access to a shared resource. With trivial synchronized blocks, only one thread can enter the critical section at a time, with Semaphores there is no restriction. We can define the no. of threads accessing the shared source while initializing the Semaphore.

Working

Semaphore controls the access to shared resource using a counter. When a thread asks for permit (using acquire() method of Semaphore), Semaphore checks the counter, if counter is greater than zero, permit will be given to requesting thread,consequently thread will be allowed to enter the critical section.

If counter is zero, calling thread will be suspended until some other thread releases the semaphore (using release() method of Semaphore).

Constructors

Semaphore class has two constructors.

  • Semaphore(int permits)
  • Semaphore(int permits, boolean fair)

First constructor allows us to set the number of permits. Think of counter here as permit. If we set the no. of permits to 2, the Semaphore will have two permits which it can assign to any two threads.

If Semaphore has suspended some threads and any other thread releases the semaphore, it will pick a random thread from suspended threads to start execution again. That’s not fair (why?). boolean fair in constructor will alternate this behaviour, if fair is set to true threads will be resumed in order in which they were suspended.

acquire() / release()

  • acquire() acquires a permit from this semaphore, blocking until one is available, or the thread is interrupted. Read more here.

  • release() releases a permit, returning it to the semaphore.. Read more here.

Example

Let’s create a simple program to understand Semaphores. We create two threads which will update a shared resource - a static counter. Each thread will get permit before incrementing the resource and will release if afterwards.

ThreadOne

class ThreadOne extends Thread {

    private Semaphore semaphore;

    public ThreadOne(Semaphore semaphore) {
        super("thread-1");
        this.semaphore = semaphore;
    } // ThreadOne

    @Override
    public void run() {
        System.out.println(getName() + " acquiring lock.");
        try {
            semaphore.acquire();
            System.out.println(getName() + " lock acquired. incrementing resource");

            for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
                SharedResource.counter++;
                Thread.sleep(200);
            }

            System.out.println(getName() + " releasing lock.");
            semaphore.release();

        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    } //
} // ThreadOne

ThreadTwo

 class ThreadTwo extends Thread {

    private Semaphore semaphore;

    ThreadTwo(Semaphore semaphore) {
        super("thread-2");
        this.semaphore = semaphore;
    } // ThreadOne

    @Override
    public void run() {
        System.out.println(getName() + " acquiring lock.");
        try {
            semaphore.acquire();
            System.out.println(getName() + " lock acquired. incrementing resource");

            for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
                SharedResource.counter++;
                Thread.sleep(200);
            }

            System.out.println(getName() + " releasing lock.");
            semaphore.release();

        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    } //

}

App

public class SemApp {

    public static void run() throws InterruptedException {
        Semaphore semaphore = new Semaphore(1);

        ThreadOne t1 = new ThreadOne(semaphore);
        ThreadTwo t2 = new ThreadTwo(semaphore);

        t1.start();
        t2.start();


        t1.join();
        t2.join();

        System.out.println("resource value = " + SharedResource.counter);
    } // main

}

Output

thread-1 acquiring lock.
thread-2 acquiring lock.
thread-1 lock acquired. incrementing resource
thread-1 releasing lock.
thread-2 lock acquired. incrementing resource
thread-2 releasing lock.
resource value = 6

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