这里有一个例子。运行它。然后将notifyAll()中的一个更改为notify()，看看会发生什么。

ProducerConsumerExample类

public class ProducerConsumerExample {

    private static boolean Even = true;
    private static boolean Odd = false;

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Dropbox dropbox = new Dropbox();
        (new Thread(new Consumer(Even, dropbox))).start();
        (new Thread(new Consumer(Odd, dropbox))).start();
        (new Thread(new Producer(dropbox))).start();
    }
}

Dropbox类

public class Dropbox {

    private int number;
    private boolean empty = true;
    private boolean evenNumber = false;

    public synchronized int take(final boolean even) {
        while (empty || evenNumber != even) {
            try {
                System.out.format("%s is waiting ... %n", even ? "Even" : "Odd");
                wait();
            } catch (InterruptedException e) { }
        }
        System.out.format("%s took %d.%n", even ? "Even" : "Odd", number);
        empty = true;
        notifyAll();

        return number;
    }

    public synchronized void put(int number) {
        while (!empty) {
            try {
                System.out.println("Producer is waiting ...");
                wait();
            } catch (InterruptedException e) { }
        }
        this.number = number;
        evenNumber = number % 2 == 0;
        System.out.format("Producer put %d.%n", number);
        empty = false;
        notifyAll();
    }
}

消费阶层

import java.util.Random;

public class Consumer implements Runnable {

    private final Dropbox dropbox;
    private final boolean even;

    public Consumer(boolean even, Dropbox dropbox) {
        this.even = even;
        this.dropbox = dropbox;
    }

    public void run() {
        Random random = new Random();
        while (true) {
            dropbox.take(even);
            try {
                Thread.sleep(random.nextInt(100));
            } catch (InterruptedException e) { }
        }
    }
}

生产类

import java.util.Random;

public class Producer implements Runnable {

    private Dropbox dropbox;

    public Producer(Dropbox dropbox) {
        this.dropbox = dropbox;
    }

    public void run() {
        Random random = new Random();
        while (true) {
            int number = random.nextInt(10);
            try {
                Thread.sleep(random.nextInt(100));
                dropbox.put(number);
            } catch (InterruptedException e) { }
        }
    }
}

notify()将唤醒一个线程，而notifyAll()将唤醒所有线程。据我所知，没有中间立场。但是如果你不确定notify()会对你的线程做什么，使用notifyAll()。每次都很灵验。

notify()让您编写比notifyAll()更有效的代码。

考虑下面这段从多个并行线程执行的代码:

synchronized(this) {
    while(busy) // a loop is necessary here
        wait();
    busy = true;
}
...
synchronized(this) {
    busy = false;
    notifyAll();
}

可以通过使用notify()来提高效率:

synchronized(this) {
    if(busy)   // replaced the loop with a condition which is evaluated only once
        wait();
    busy = true;
}
...
synchronized(this) {
    busy = false;
    notify();
}

在有大量线程的情况下，或者如果等待循环条件的计算成本很高，notify()将比notifyAll()快得多。例如，如果你有1000个线程，那么999个线程将在第一个notifyAll()之后被唤醒和评估，然后是998，然后是997，依此类推。相反，使用notify()解决方案，只会唤醒一个线程。

使用notifyAll()当你需要选择哪个线程将做下一步工作:

synchronized(this) {
    while(idx != last+1)  // wait until it's my turn
        wait();
}
...
synchronized(this) {
    last = idx;
    notifyAll();
}

Finally, it's important to understand that in case of notifyAll(), the code inside synchronized blocks that have been awakened will be executed sequentially, not all at once. Let's say there are three threads waiting in the above example, and the fourth thread calls notifyAll(). All three threads will be awakened but only one will start execution and check the condition of the while loop. If the condition is true, it will call wait() again, and only then the second thread will start executing and will check its while loop condition, and so on.

虽然上面有一些可靠的答案，但我对我读到的困惑和误解的数量感到惊讶。这可能证明了应该尽可能多地使用java.util.concurrent，而不是尝试编写自己的坏并发代码。

回到问题:总结一下，目前的最佳实践是在所有情况下避免notify()，因为会出现丢失唤醒的问题。任何不理解这一点的人都不应该被允许编写关键任务并发代码。如果你担心羊群问题，实现一次唤醒一个线程的安全方法是:

为等待线程构建一个显式的等待队列; 让队列中的每个线程等待它的前一个线程; 完成后让每个线程调用notifyAll()。

或者你可以使用Java.util.concurrent。*，它们已经实现了这一点。

我认为这取决于资源是如何生产和消费的。如果同时有5个工作对象，并且您有5个消费者对象，那么使用notifyAll()唤醒所有线程是有意义的，这样每个线程都可以处理1个工作对象。

如果您只有一个可用的工作对象，那么唤醒所有使用者对象来争夺这个对象有什么意义呢?第一个检查可用工作的线程将得到它，所有其他线程将检查并发现它们无事可做。

我在这里找到了一个很好的解释。简而言之:

The notify() method is generally used for resource pools, where there are an arbitrary number of "consumers" or "workers" that take resources, but when a resource is added to the pool, only one of the waiting consumers or workers can deal with it. The notifyAll() method is actually used in most other cases. Strictly, it is required to notify waiters of a condition that could allow multiple waiters to proceed. But this is often difficult to know. So as a general rule, if you have no particular logic for using notify(), then you should probably use notifyAll(), because it is often difficult to know exactly what threads will be waiting on a particular object and why.

摘自Effective Java博客:

The notifyAll method should generally be used in preference to notify. 

If notify is used, great care must be taken to ensure liveness.

所以，我的理解是(从前面提到的博客，“Yann TM”对公认答案和Java文档的评论):

notify() : JVM awakens one of the waiting threads on this object. Thread selection is made arbitrarily without fairness. So same thread can be awakened again and again. So system's state changes but no real progress is made. Thus creating a livelock. notifyAll() : JVM awakens all threads and then all threads race for the lock on this object. Now, CPU scheduler selects a thread which acquires lock on this object. This selection process would be much better than selection by JVM. Thus, ensuring liveness.