> > If I'm not mistaken, JSR-133 only affects final fields so we still have > the same problem for non-final fields. > i.e any non-final fields in Messages might still be uninitialized even if > the *reference* is visible to other threads (messages != null) > >
Actually, JSR-133 guarantees that final fields are initialised before reference to the object is visible to other threads even not using volatile. Change in 'volatile' was separate: "* The semantics of volatile variables have been strengthened to have acquire and release semantics. In the original specification, accesses to volatile and non-volatile variables could be freely ordered. * The semantics of final fields have been strengthened to allow for thread-safe immutatability without explicit synchronization. This may require steps such as store-store barriers at the end of constructors in which final fields are set."[1] [1] http://www.cs.umd.edu/~pugh/java/memoryModel/jsr133.pdf Cezary
