Java thread safety of list

Question

I have a List, which is to be used either in thread-safe context or in a non thread-safe one. Which one will it be, is impossible to determine in advance.

In such specia

Answer 1

Take a look at how AtomicInteger (and the likes) are implemented to be thread safe & not synchronized. The mechanism does not introduce synchronization, but if one is needed, it handles it gracefully.