Is Variable Assignment in Go Atomic?

Variable Assignment in Go: Is It Atomic?

In Go, concurrent modification of shared data by multiple goroutines can lead to unexpected behavior. Consider a scenario where two threads simultaneously attempt to modify the string field of a struct.

Question:

If two threads concurrently assign different strings to the same string field, will the resulting field value always be one or the other assigned string?

Answer:

No. In Go, variable assignments are not atomic. Therefore, concurrent modification of a shared variable can result in an unexpected state. As stated in the Go Memory Model document:

Programs that modify data being simultaneously accessed by multiple
goroutines must serialize such access.

Solution:

To ensure atomic operations, Go provides synchronization primitives in the sync and sync/atomic packages. For example, the sync.Mutex type can be used to synchronize access to shared data, ensuring that only one goroutine can modify it at a time.

Recommendation:

When dealing with concurrent access to shared data, it is always advisable to use appropriate synchronization mechanisms like channels or synchronization primitives to serialize access and prevent data corruption.

The above is the detailed content of Is Variable Assignment in Go Atomic?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!