How does Externalizable behave in multithreaded code?

Externalizable is a marker interface in Java that facilitates custom serialization and deserialization of objects. When dealing with multithreaded code, the behavior of Externalizable can be impacted by concurrent access and modifications to the object being serialized.

In a multithreaded environment, if multiple threads attempt to serialize or deserialize the same object concurrently, it can lead to inconsistent states or data corruption. Therefore, it is important to ensure proper synchronization when accessing Externalizable objects from multiple threads.

For example, using a synchronized block can help prevent concurrent modifications during serialization or deserialization:

synchronized (externalizableObject) { ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(new FileOutputStream("object.dat")); oos.writeObject(externalizableObject); oos.close(); }

Externalizable multithreaded serialization synchronization Java concurrency