Question

I was looking at LazyInitializer.EnsureInitialized(ref T, Func{T}) in Reflector, and there appears to be a volatile local variable in that method volatile object local1 = s_barrier;
. I can think of two possible reasons for this:

1. .NET may get to use features that are not supported by a given language, or

2. The actual code does not declare a volatile local variable, but when the compiled code is decompiled by Reflector, it looks like a volatile local variable.

Does anyone know which is the case here (or whether there might be some other explanation)? If it is a matter of decompilation, does anyone have an idea of what the “true” code would look like?

Answer 1

This looks like a Reflector bug : it’s just a normal volatile read of the s_barrier field. There’s no “special” IL here that’s not expressible in C#.

 L_000d: volatile. 
 L_000f: ldsfld object modreq(System.Runtime.CompilerServices.IsVolatile) System.Threading.LazyInitializer::s_barrier

This is just the normal code the compiler emits when reading from a static volatile field.

---

Here’s a simpler repro: just compile the following (wrapped in a type) in release mode:

private static volatile object field;

private static void Main()
{
    var temp = field;
}

Reflector produces the following decompiled C#:

private static void Main()
{
    volatile object field = Program.field;
}

when the IL is actually:

L_0000: volatile. 
L_0002: ldsfld object modreq([mscorlib]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.IsVolatile) WindowsFormsApplication1.Program::field
L_0007: pop 
L_0008: ret 

UPDATE:
Here’s my guess about what’s happening: In release mode, the C# compiler optimizes away the assignment of the value of the field (the result of the volatile read) to the local variable (the stloc instruction) since the local is not subsequently used. This appears to confuse Reflector. If you changed the method to use the subsequently use local, the stloc (or similar) instruction would indeed be emitted, following which the decompiled output from Reflector looks sensible.