JDK 9 VarHandle memory mode usage guide

[Doug Lea]

[Reposting from concurrency-interest list]


As may recall, JDK 9 VarHandles with new memory modes were incorporated
without a full overhaul of the Java Memory Model that would be needed
to formally specify them. For the past year or so I've been sporadically
working on an expert-programmer guide that conveys as much information
as possible while skirting the issues (like out-of-thin-air) that led
to stalls in revising the JMM. Considering that there's now no chance
for a JLS JMM update to occur before JDK 9 release, this might be the
we can do. The current draft is available at
   http://gee.cs.oswego.edu/dl/html/j9mm.html

If you are on this list, you are probably in the main target audience
for this guide. Someday, a less imposing overview might be nice. Plus
more examples.

-Doug