Book Image

Java 7 Concurrency Cookbook

By : Javier Fernández González
Book Image

Java 7 Concurrency Cookbook

By: Javier Fernández González

Overview of this book

<p><undefined:p><undefined:undefined:p>Java remains the global standard for developing various applications and enterprise software, and the launch of Java 7 brings with it exciting new capabilities for concurrent programming by way of the concurrency utilities enhancement. This allows developers to make the most of their applications with parallel task performance. "Java 7 Concurrency Cookbook" covers all elements of the Java concurrency API, providing essential recipes for taking advantage of the exciting new capabilities.<undefined:undefined:br><undefined:undefined:br>On your computer, you can listen to music while you edit a Word document and read your emails, all at once! This is because your operating system allows the concurrency of tasks, much like the Java platform which offers various classes to execute concurrent tasks inside a Java program. "Java 7 Concurrency Cookbook" covers the most important features of the Java concurrency API, with special emphasis on the new capabilities of version 7. <undefined:undefined:br><undefined:undefined:br>With each version, Java increases the available functionality to facilitate development of concurrent programs. This book covers the most important and useful mechanisms included in version 7 of the Java concurrency API, so you will be able to use them directly in your applications.<undefined:undefined:br><undefined:undefined:br>"Java 7 Concurrency Cookbook" includes recipes to enable you to achieve everything from the basic management of threads and tasks, to the new Fork /Join framework, through synchronization mechanisms between tasks, different types of concurrent tasks that Java can execute, data structures that must be used in concurrent applications and the classes of the library that can be customized.<undefined:undefined:br><undefined:undefined:br>With the step-by-step examples in this book you&rsquo;ll be able to apply the most important and useful features of the Java 7 concurrency API.</undefined:undefined:br></undefined:undefined:br></undefined:undefined:br></undefined:undefined:br></undefined:undefined:br></undefined:undefined:br></undefined:undefined:br></undefined:undefined:br></undefined:undefined:p></undefined:p></p>
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Java 7 Concurrency Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Implementing a priority-based Executor class


In the first versions of the Java concurrency API, you had to create and run all the threads of your application. In Java Version 5, with the appearance of the Executor framework, a new mechanism was introduced for the execution of concurrency tasks.

With the Executor framework, you only have to implement your tasks and send them to the executor. The executor is responsible for the creation and execution of the threads that execute your tasks.

Internally, an executor uses a blocking queue to store pending tasks. These are stored in the order of their arrival to the executor. One possible alternative is the use of a priority queue to store new tasks. In this way, if a new task with high priority arrives to the executor, it will be executed before other threads that have already been waiting for a thread to execute, but have lower priority.

In this recipe, you will learn how to implement an executor that will use a priority queue to store the tasks...