Java ConcurrencyTag ArchiveSubscribe

Implementing a Runnable vs Extending a Thread 1. Introduction “Should I implement a Runnable or extend the Thread class”? is quite a common question. In this article, we’ll see which approach makes more sense in practice and why. 2. Using Thread Let’s first define a SimpleThread class that extends Thread:… Continue Reading java-runnable-vs-extending-thread

An Introduction to Atomic Variables in Java 1. Introduction Simply put, shared state very easily leads to problems when concurrency is involved. If access to shared mutable objects is not managed properly, applications can quickly become prone to some hard-to-detect concurrency errors. In this article, we’ll revisit the use of… Continue Reading java-atomic-variables

A Guide to the Java ExecutorService 1. Overview ExecutorService is a framework provided by the JDK which simplifies the execution of tasks in asynchronous mode. Generally speaking, ExecutorService automatically provides a pool of threads and API for assigning tasks to it. Further reading: Guide to the Fork/Join Framework in Java… Continue Reading java-executor-service-tutorial

Guide to java.util.concurrent.BlockingQueue 1. Overview In this article, we will look at one of the most useful constructs java.util.concurrent to solve the concurrent producer-consumer problem. We’ll look at an API of the BlockingQueue interface and how methods from that interface make writing concurrent programs easier. Later in the article, we… Continue Reading java-blocking-queue

How to Delay Code Execution in Java 1. Introduction It is relatively common for Java programs to add a delay or pause in their operation. This can be useful for task pacing or to pause execution until another task completes. This tutorial will describe two ways to implement delays in… Continue Reading java-delay-code-execution

Guide to CountDownLatch in Java 1. Introduction In this article, we’ll give a guide to the CountDownLatch class and demonstrate how it can be used in a few practical examples. Essentially, by using a CountDownLatch we can cause a thread to block until other threads have completed a given task.… Continue Reading java-countdown-latch

How to Start a Thread in Java 1. Introduction In this tutorial, we’re going to explore different ways to start a thread and execute parallel tasks. This is very useful, in particular when dealing with long or recurring operations that can’t run on the main thread, or where the UI… Continue Reading java-start-thread

How to Kill a Java Thread 1. Introduction In this brief article, we’ll cover stopping a Thread in Java – which is not that simple since the Thread.stop() method is deprecated. As explained in this update from Oracle, stop() can lead to monitored objects being corrupted. 2. Using a Flag… Continue Reading java-thread-stop

Guide to the Fork/Join Framework in Java 1. Overview The fork/join framework was presented in Java 7. It provides tools to help speed up parallel processing by attempting to use all available processor cores – which is accomplished through a divide and conquer approach. In practice, this means that the… Continue Reading java-fork-join

Introduction to Thread Pools in Java 1. Introduction This article is a look at thread pools in Java – starting with the different implementations in the standard Java library and then looking at Google’s Guava library. 2. The Thread Pool In Java, threads are mapped to system-level threads which are… Continue Reading thread-pool-java-and-guava