Good example of livelock?

Question

I understand what livelock is, but I was wondering if anyone had a good code-based example of it? And by code-based, I do not mean "two people trying to get past each other in a corridor". If I read that again, I'll lose my lunch.

Answer 1

Here's a very simple Java example of livelock where a husband and wife are trying to eat soup, but only have one spoon between them. Each spouse is too polite, and will pass the spoon if the other has not yet eaten.

public class Livelock {
    static class Spoon {
        private Diner owner;
        public Spoon(Diner d) { owner = d; }
        public Diner getOwner() { return owner; }
        public synchronized void setOwner(Diner d) { owner = d; }
        public synchronized void use() { 
            System.out.printf("%s has eaten!", owner.name); 
        }
    }

    static class Diner {
        private String name;
        private boolean isHungry;

        public Diner(String n) { name = n; isHungry = true; }       
        public String getName() { return name; }
        public boolean isHungry() { return isHungry; }

        public void eatWith(Spoon spoon, Diner spouse) {
            while (isHungry) {
                // Don't have the spoon, so wait patiently for spouse.
                if (spoon.owner != this) {
                    try { Thread.sleep(1); } 
                    catch(InterruptedException e) { continue; }
                    continue;
                }                       

                // If spouse is hungry, insist upon passing the spoon.
                if (spouse.isHungry()) {                    
                    System.out.printf(
                        "%s: You eat first my darling %s!%n", 
                        name, spouse.getName());
                    spoon.setOwner(spouse);
                    continue;
                }

                // Spouse wasn't hungry, so finally eat
                spoon.use();
                isHungry = false;               
                System.out.printf(
                    "%s: I am stuffed, my darling %s!%n", 
                    name, spouse.getName());                
                spoon.setOwner(spouse);
            }
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        final Diner husband = new Diner("Bob");
        final Diner wife = new Diner("Alice");

        final Spoon s = new Spoon(husband);

        new Thread(new Runnable() { 
            public void run() { husband.eatWith(s, wife); }   
        }).start();

        new Thread(new Runnable() { 
            public void run() { wife.eatWith(s, husband); } 
        }).start();
    }
}