[concurrency-interest] Is java.lang.String threadsafe?

[Howard Lewis Ship]

I was just putting together a utility class (a non-case-sensitive
String Map implementation) and I happened to look at some code in
java.lang.String:

  public int hashCode() {
	int h = hash;
	if (h == 0) {
	    int off = offset;
	    char val[] = value;
	    int len = count;

            for (int i = 0; i < len; i++) {
                h = 31*h + val[off++];
            }
            hash = h;
        }
        return h;
    }

All the hallmarks of non-threadsafe code.  I think this is only
threadsafe because:

a) In any race condition, it will always compute the same value
(everything else is final)
b) The field type is int, not long (atomic write for int, non-atomic for long)

I have a feeling I'm right here, if only because otherwise nothing in
the JDK that uses a String is likely threadsafe.

-- 
Howard M. Lewis Ship
TWD Consulting, Inc.
Independent J2EE / Open-Source Java Consultant
Creator and PMC Chair, Apache Tapestry
Creator, Apache HiveMind

Professional Tapestry training, mentoring, support
and project work.  http://howardlewisship.com