Thread safety for static variables

Question

class ABC implements Runnable {
    private static int a;
    private static int b;
    public void run() {
    }
}

I have a Java class as above. I hav

Answer 1

I would use AtomicInteger, which is designed to be thread-safe and is dead easy to use and imparts the absolute minimal of synchronization overhead to the application:

class ABC implements Runnable {
    private static AtomicInteger a;
    private static AtomicInteger b;
    public void run() {
        // effectively a++, but no need for explicit synchronization!
        a.incrementAndGet(); 
    }
}

// In some other thread:

int i = ABC.a.intValue(); // thread-safe without explicit synchronization