Volatile Variable

Volatile Variable

In computer programming, particularly in the C, C++, C#, and Java programming languages, a variable or object declared with the volatile keyword usually has special properties related to optimization and/or threading. Generally speaking, the volatile keyword is intended to prevent the compiler from applying any optimizations on the code that assume values of variables cannot change "on their own."

The actual definition and applicability of the volatile keyword is often misconstrued in the context of the C language. Although C++, C#, and Java share the same keyword volatile from C, there is a great deal of difference between the semantics and usefulness of volatile in each of these programming languages.