What is a StampedLock and How Does it Differ from ReentrantLock? — IT Interview Guide

What is a StampedLock and How Does it Differ from ReentrantLock?

The StampedLock and ReentrantLock are both advanced locking mechanisms in Java, designed to help developers manage concurrency and ensure thread safety in multithreaded environments. However, they differ in functionality, performance, and use cases. In this article, we’ll explore both locks, provide code examples, and highlight key differences to help you decide when to use each in your Java applications.

Introduction to StampedLock

The StampedLock was introduced in Java 8 as part of the java.util.concurrent.locks package. It offers an alternative to traditional locking mechanisms such as the ReentrantLock and synchronized blocks. Unlike other locks, a StampedLock provides three types of operations: read, write, and optimistic reading. The lock is designed to maximize concurrency by allowing multiple threads to perform read operations simultaneously while maintaining the integrity of write operations.

The primary benefit of StampedLock is that it supports three different types of locks:

• Write lock: Acquired for exclusive write access.
• Read lock: Acquired for shared read access.