How has happens-before relationships changed in recent Java versions?

In recent Java versions, particularly post-Java 8, the happens-before relationships have been refined to enhance the concurrency model. These changes aim to provide clearer guarantees about memory visibility and ordering for multithreaded programming. Java 9 introduced the CompletableFuture API which further aids in establishing happens-before relationships through its various completion methods. The concept of var was introduced in Java 10, which also impacts the way references are handled in concurrent contexts. This ensures better readability and maintainability while preserving the principles of happens-before semantics.

Example of Happens-Before in Java

// Java example of happens-before relationship class SharedData { private int counter = 0; public void increment() { counter++; // Write operation } public int getCounter() { return counter; // Read operation } } public class Main { public static void main(String[] args) { SharedData data = new SharedData(); Thread writer = new Thread(() -> { for (int i = 0; i < 1000; i++) { data.increment(); } }); Thread reader = new Thread(() -> { try { Thread.sleep(100); // Wait for writer to finish } catch (InterruptedException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } System.out.println("Counter: " + data.getCounter()); }); writer.start(); reader.start(); } }

happens-before relationships concurrency model Java 8 CompletableFuture Java 9 Java 10 memory visibility multithreading