What Is the Purpose of Java’s volatile Keyword?

What Is the Purpose of Java’s volatile Keyword?

The volatile keyword in Java ensures visibility of changes across threads.

Visibility in Multithreading

Volatile ensures that updates to a variable are visible to all threads immediately.

Example Code

            volatile boolean isRunning = true;
            Thread thread = new Thread(() -> {
                while (isRunning) {
                    // perform task
                }
            });
            thread.start();
            isRunning = false; // Stops the thread
            

This example shows how volatile controls visibility of variables between threads.