This threadsafe class uses java.lang.reflect to provide atomic operations for a named volatile field of type V within an object of type T. Its instance methods are like those of AtomicReference and the static newUpdater( ) factory method is like that of AtomicIntegerFieldUpdater.

public abstract class AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater<T,V> {
// Protected Constructors
     protected AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater( );  
// Public Class Methods
     public static <U,W> AtomicReferenceFieldUpdater<U,W> newUpdater(Class<U> tclass, 
        Class<W> vclass, String fieldName);  
// Public Instance Methods
     public abstract boolean compareAndSet(T obj, V expect, V update);  
     public abstract V get(T obj);  
     public V getAndSet(T obj, V newValue);  
     public abstract void set(T obj, V newValue);  
     public abstract boolean weakCompareAndSet(T obj, V expect, V update);  
}