Class CyclicBarrier

  • All Implemented Interfaces:
    Barrier

    public class CyclicBarrier
    extends java.lang.Object
    implements Barrier
    A cyclic barrier is a reasonable choice for a barrier in contexts involving a fixed sized group of threads that must occasionally wait for each other. (A Rendezvous better handles applications in which any number of threads meet, n-at-a-time.)

    CyclicBarriers use an all-or-none breakage model for failed synchronization attempts: If threads leave a barrier point prematurely because of timeout or interruption, others will also leave abnormally (via BrokenBarrierException), until the barrier is restarted. This is usually the simplest and best strategy for sharing knowledge about failures among cooperating threads in the most common usages contexts of Barriers. This implementation has the property that interruptions among newly arriving threads can cause as-yet-unresumed threads from a previous barrier cycle to return out as broken. This transmits breakage as early as possible, but with the possible byproduct that only some threads returning out of a barrier will realize that it is newly broken. (Others will not realize this until a future cycle.) (The Rendezvous class has a more uniform, but sometimes less desirable policy.)

    Barriers support an optional Runnable command that is run once per barrier point.

    Sample usage Here is a code sketch of a barrier in a parallel decomposition design.

     class Solver {
       final int N;
       final float[][] data;
       final CyclicBarrier barrier;
       
       class Worker implements Runnable {
          int myRow;
          Worker(int row) { myRow = row; }
          public void run() {
             while (!done()) {
                processRow(myRow);
    
                try {
                  barrier.barrier(); 
                }
                catch (InterruptedException ex) { return; }
                catch (BrokenBarrierException ex) { return; }
             }
          }
       }
    
       public Solver(float[][] matrix) {
         data = matrix;
         N = matrix.length;
         barrier = new CyclicBarrier(N);
         barrier.setBarrierCommand(new Runnable() {
           public void run() { mergeRows(...); }
         });
         for (int i = 0; i < N; ++i) {
           new Thread(new Worker(i)).start();
         waitUntilDone();
        }
     }
     

    [ Introduction to this package. ]

    • Constructor Summary

      Constructors 
      Constructor Description
      CyclicBarrier​(int parties)
      Create a CyclicBarrier for the indicated number of parties, and no command to run at each barrier.
      CyclicBarrier​(int parties, java.lang.Runnable command)
      Create a CyclicBarrier for the indicated number of parties.
    • Method Summary

      All Methods Instance Methods Concrete Methods 
      Modifier and Type Method Description
      int attemptBarrier​(long msecs)
      Enter barrier and wait at most msecs for the other parties()-1 threads.
      int barrier()
      Enter barrier and wait for the other parties()-1 threads.
      boolean broken()
      Returns true if the barrier has been compromised by threads leaving the barrier before a synchronization point (normally due to interruption or timeout).
      protected int doBarrier​(boolean timed, long msecs)  
      int parties()
      Return the number of parties that must meet per barrier point.
      void restart()
      Reset to initial state.
      java.lang.Runnable setBarrierCommand​(java.lang.Runnable command)
      Set the command to run at the point at which all threads reach the barrier.
      • Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

        clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
    • Field Detail

      • parties_

        protected final int parties_
      • broken_

        protected boolean broken_
      • barrierCommand_

        protected java.lang.Runnable barrierCommand_
      • count_

        protected int count_
      • resets_

        protected int resets_
    • Constructor Detail

      • CyclicBarrier

        public CyclicBarrier​(int parties)
        Create a CyclicBarrier for the indicated number of parties, and no command to run at each barrier.
        Throws:
        java.lang.IllegalArgumentException - if parties less than or equal to zero.
      • CyclicBarrier

        public CyclicBarrier​(int parties,
                             java.lang.Runnable command)
        Create a CyclicBarrier for the indicated number of parties. and the given command to run at each barrier point.
        Throws:
        java.lang.IllegalArgumentException - if parties less than or equal to zero.
    • Method Detail

      • setBarrierCommand

        public java.lang.Runnable setBarrierCommand​(java.lang.Runnable command)
        Set the command to run at the point at which all threads reach the barrier. This command is run exactly once, by the thread that trips the barrier. The command is not run if the barrier is broken.
        Parameters:
        command - the command to run. If null, no command is run.
        Returns:
        the previous command
      • broken

        public boolean broken()
        Description copied from interface: Barrier
        Returns true if the barrier has been compromised by threads leaving the barrier before a synchronization point (normally due to interruption or timeout). Barrier methods in implementation classes throw throw BrokenBarrierException upon detection of breakage. Implementations may also support some means to clear this status.
        Specified by:
        broken in interface Barrier
      • restart

        public void restart()
        Reset to initial state. Clears both the broken status and any record of waiting threads, and releases all currently waiting threads with indeterminate return status. This method is intended only for use in recovery actions in which it is somehow known that no thread could possibly be relying on the the synchronization properties of this barrier.
      • parties

        public int parties()
        Description copied from interface: Barrier
        Return the number of parties that must meet per barrier point. The number of parties is always at least 1.
        Specified by:
        parties in interface Barrier
      • barrier

        public int barrier()
                    throws java.lang.InterruptedException,
                           BrokenBarrierException
        Enter barrier and wait for the other parties()-1 threads.
        Returns:
        the arrival index: the number of other parties that were still waiting upon entry. This is a unique value from zero to parties()-1. If it is zero, then the current thread was the last party to hit barrier point and so was responsible for releasing the others.
        Throws:
        BrokenBarrierException - if any other thread in any previous or current barrier since either creation or the last restart operation left the barrier prematurely due to interruption or time-out. (If so, the broken status is also set.) Threads that are notified to have been interrupted after being released are not considered to have broken the barrier. In all cases, the interruption status of the current thread is preserved, so can be tested by checking Thread.interrupted.
        java.lang.InterruptedException - if this thread was interrupted during the barrier, and was the one causing breakage. If so, broken status is also set.
      • attemptBarrier

        public int attemptBarrier​(long msecs)
                           throws java.lang.InterruptedException,
                                  TimeoutException,
                                  BrokenBarrierException
        Enter barrier and wait at most msecs for the other parties()-1 threads.
        Returns:
        if not timed out, the arrival index: the number of other parties that were still waiting upon entry. This is a unique value from zero to parties()-1. If it is zero, then the current thread was the last party to hit barrier point and so was responsible for releasing the others.
        Throws:
        BrokenBarrierException - if any other thread in any previous or current barrier since either creation or the last restart operation left the barrier prematurely due to interruption or time-out. (If so, the broken status is also set.) Threads that are noticed to have been interrupted after being released are not considered to have broken the barrier. In all cases, the interruption status of the current thread is preserved, so can be tested by checking Thread.interrupted.
        java.lang.InterruptedException - if this thread was interrupted during the barrier. If so, broken status is also set.
        TimeoutException - if this thread timed out waiting for the barrier. If the timeout occured while already in the barrier, broken status is also set.