I have started learning concurrency and threads in Java. I know the basics of synchronized (i.e. what it does). Conceptually I understand that it provides mutually exclusive access to a shared resource with multiple threads in Java. But when faced with an example like the one below I am confused about whether it is a good idea to have it synchronized. I know that critical sections of the code should be synchronized and this keyword should not be overused or it effects the performance.
public static synchronized List<AClass> sortA(AClass[] aArray)
{
List<AClass> aObj = getList(aArray);
Collections.sort(aObj, new AComparator());
return aObj;
}
public static synchronized List<AClass> getList(AClass[] anArray)
{
//It converts an array to a list and returns
}