Avoid synchronized(this) in Java?

Question

Whenever a question pops up on SO about Java synchronization, some people are very eager to point out that synchronized(this) should be avoided. Instead, they c

Answer 1

While you are using synchronized(this) you are using the class instance as a lock itself. This means that while lock is acquired by thread 1, the thread 2 should wait.

Suppose the following code:

public void method1() {
    // do something ...
    synchronized(this) {
        a ++;      
    }
    // ................
}


public void method2() {
    // do something ...
    synchronized(this) {
        b ++;      
    }
    // ................
}

Method 1 modifying the variable a and method 2 modifying the variable b, the concurrent modification of the same variable by two threads should be avoided and it is. BUT while thread1 modifying a and thread2 modifying b it can be performed without any race condition.

Unfortunately, the above code will not allow this since we are using the same reference for a lock; This means that threads even if they are not in a race condition should wait and obviously the code sacrifices concurrency of the program.

The solution is to use 2 different locks for two different variables:

public class Test {

    private Object lockA = new Object();
    private Object lockB = new Object();

    public void method1() {
        // do something ...
        synchronized(lockA) {
            a ++;      
        }
        // ................
    }


    public void method2() {
        // do something ...
        synchronized(lockB) {
            b ++;      
        }
        // ................
    }

}

The above example uses more fine grained locks (2 locks instead one (lockA and lockB for variables a and b respectively) and as a result allows better concurrency, on the other hand it became more complex than the first example ...