ThreadLocal:

ThreadLocal为解决多线程程序的并发问题提供了一种新的思路。使用这个工具类可以很简洁地编写出优美的多线程程序。

ThreadLocal很容易让人望文生义，想当然地认为是一个“本地线程”。其实，ThreadLocal并不是一个Thread，而是Thread的局部变量，也许把它命名为ThreadLocalVariable更容易让人理解一些。

当使用ThreadLocal维护变量时，ThreadLocal为每个使用该变量的线程提供独立的变量副本，所以每一个线程都可以独立地改变自己的副本，而不会影响其它线程所对应的副本。

　　从线程的角度看，目标变量就象是线程的本地变量，这也是类名中“Local”所要表达的意思。

　　所以，在Java中编写线程局部变量的代码相对来说要笨拙一些，因此造成线程局部变量没有在Java开发者中得到很好的普及。

 

实现原理：ThreadLocal是如何做到为每一个线程维护变量的副本的呢？

　　　　　　其实实现的思路很简单：在ThreadLocal类中有一个Map，用于存储每一个线程的变量副本，Map中元素的键为线程对象，而值对应线程的变量副本。

　　　　　　Thread 中有一个成员变量：ThreadLocal.Values localValues，通过在ThreadLocal中进行操作来维护此变量：private Entry[] table 数组

ThreadLocal：

 

/**
     * Sets the value of this variable for the current thread. If set to
     * {@code null}, the value will be set to null and the underlying entry will
     * still be present.
     *
     * @param value the new value of the variable for the caller thread.
     */
    public void set(T value) {
        Thread currentThread = Thread.currentThread();
        Values values = values(currentThread);
        if (values == null) {
            values = initializeValues(currentThread);
        }
        values.put(this, value);
    }

 

TreadLocal.Values:

 /**
     * Per-thread map of ThreadLocal instances to values.
     */
    static class Values {

        /**
         * Size must always be a power of 2.
         */
        private static final int INITIAL_SIZE = 16;

        /**
         * Placeholder for deleted entries.
         */
        private static final Object TOMBSTONE = new Object();

        /**
         * Map entries. Contains alternating keys (ThreadLocal) and values.
         * The length is always a power of 2.
         */
        private Object[] table;

        /** Used to turn hashes into indices. */
        private int mask;

        /** Number of live entries. */
        private int size;

        /** Number of tombstones. */
        private int tombstones;

        /** Maximum number of live entries and tombstones. */
        private int maximumLoad;

        /** Points to the next cell to clean up. */
        private int clean;

        /**
         * Constructs a new, empty instance.
         */
        Values() {
            initializeTable(INITIAL_SIZE);
            this.size = 0;
            this.tombstones = 0;
        }

        ...

        /**
         * Adds an entry during rehashing. Compared to put(), this method
         * doesn't have to clean up, check for existing entries, account for
         * tombstones, etc.
         */
        void add(ThreadLocal<?> key, Object value) {
            for (int index = key.hash & mask;; index = next(index)) {
                Object k = table[index];
                if (k == null) {
                    table[index] = key.reference;
                    table[index + 1] = value;
                    return;
                }
            }
        }

        /**
         * Sets entry for given ThreadLocal to given value, creating an
         * entry if necessary.
         */
        void put(ThreadLocal<?> key, Object value) {
            cleanUp();

            // Keep track of first tombstone. That's where we want to go back
            // and add an entry if necessary.
            int firstTombstone = -1;

            for (int index = key.hash & mask;; index = next(index)) {
                Object k = table[index];

                if (k == key.reference) {
                    // Replace existing entry.
                    table[index + 1] = value;
                    return;
                }

                if (k == null) {
                    if (firstTombstone == -1) {
                        // Fill in null slot.
                        table[index] = key.reference;
                        table[index + 1] = value;
                        size++;
                        return;
                    }

                    // Go back and replace first tombstone.
                    table[firstTombstone] = key.reference;
                    table[firstTombstone + 1] = value;
                    tombstones--;
                    size++;
                    return;
                }

                // Remember first tombstone.
                if (firstTombstone == -1 && k == TOMBSTONE) {
                    firstTombstone = index;
                }
            }
        }
    ...
}    

仔细可能过源码后，可以知道，ThreadLocal其实是实现了一个线程本地变量的存储，每个thread都拥有一个相同名称的局部变量，而所有的thread都共享同一个ThreadLocal对象，

因此可知，ThreadLocal并不是用来实现所谓的多线程并发问题的，因为每个thread都只能访问自己的局部变量，根本访问不了其他thread的变量，也不需要访问。因此，也不需要考虑thread之间的同步问题

ThreadLocal源码中的注释：

/**
 * Implements a thread-local storage, that is, a variable for which each thread
 * has its own value. All threads share the same {@code ThreadLocal} object,
 * but each sees a different value when accessing it, and changes made by one
 * thread do not affect the other threads. The implementation supports
 * {@code null} values.
 *
 * @see java.lang.Thread
 * @author Bob Lee
 */