Threads in Java

Alexandre Bergel
http://bergel.eu
06/11/2017
 Roadmap

1.What are threads?

2.The Jeronimo Web Server
3.Multiple executions
4.Scheduling
5.Synchronization
6.Closing words
7.Homework
 Roadmap

1.What are threads?

2.The Jeronimo Web Server
3.Multiple executions
4.Scheduling
5.Synchronization
6.Closing words
7.Homework
 More than one thing

Most of the programs we have seen use a single

thread for their execution
This may cause problem when multiple events or
actions need to occur at the same time
Drawing a graphical tictactoe while handling user’s clicks

Serving a HTTP request while waiting for new request

Example of a web server
myserver.com
request
http://myserver.com
Example of a web server
myserver.com
request
http://myserver.com

1 - receive the request

2 - interpret the request
3 - look for the html file to
serve
4 - send the file over
Example of a web server
myserver.com
request
http://myserver.com

costly operation 1 - receive the request

(a few milliseconds) 2 - interpret the request
3 - look for the html file to
serve
4 - send the file over
 Example of a web server
myserver.com
request
http://myserver.com

costly operation 1 - receive the request

(a few milliseconds) 2 - interpret the request
3 - look for the html file to
If the server receives many
requests per seconds, then the serve
server should be able to do 4 - send the file over
many things at the same time
 Threads

The solution to these problems is the seamless

execution of two or more sections of a program, at the
same time
Threads: expressing logical parallelism in a program
thread = logical sequence of control, a program’s path of
execution

independent logical sequences of control

generally share one memory

Threads give the illusion to do some work in parallel

 What are threads?

Threads are a control mechanism offered by both a

library and the programming language
Used to express concurrency and parallelism in a
program
The following operations are necessary:
create: increase parallelism

synchronize: coordinate

destroy: decrease parallelism

 Multiple execution

Multithreading means multiple execution lines for a

single program at the same time
The idea of sharing data is very beneficial
but brings up some areas of concern
 What are threads in Java?

Threads are exposed as a special kind of object

Operations are methods on thread objects

Each thread object is a unit of parallelism

A thread can be executed independently therefore

 Roadmap

1.What are threads?

2.The Jeronimo Web Server
3.Multiple executions
4.Scheduling
5.Synchronization
6.Closing words
7.Homework
 Jeronimo v0 - Testing first

public class JeronimoTest {

@Test
public void test() {
LoggingHandler handler = new LoggingHandler();
Jeronimo server = new Jeronimo(handler);

assertEquals(handler.nbOfRequests(), 0);
server.receiveRequest("http://myserver.com");

assertEquals(handler.nbOfRequests(), 1);
assertEquals(handler.lastRequest(), "http://myserver.com");
}
}
 The Jeronimo class
public class Jeronimo {
private RequestHandler requestHandler;

public Jeronimo(RequestHandler aRequestHandler) {

requestHandler = aRequestHandler;
}

public void receiveRequest(String aRequest) {

requestHandler.serve(aRequest);
}
}

public interface RequestHandler {

void serve(String aRequest);
}
 Writing the right handler

public class ThreadedHandler implements RequestHandler, Runnable {

@Override
public void serve(String aRequest) {
Thread thread = new Thread(this);
thread.start();
}

@Override
public void run() {
...
}
...
}
Testing the creation of threads is not trivial
in most of case
Handing web requests

Web
server
Thread 1
Handing web requests

Web
server
Thread 1
http://localhost:8000/index.html
Handing web requests

Web
server creates
Thread 1
http://localhost:8000/index.html

Request

Thread 2
Handing web requests

Web
server
Thread 1
http://localhost:8000/index.html

Request

Thread 2
Handing web requests

http://localhost:8000/index.html

Web
server
Thread 1
http://localhost:8000/index.html

Request

Thread 2
 Jeronimo v1 - Adding a bit of
networking

A request has to be associated to a socket

A socket is an endpoint for communication between
two machine
 Using sockets

public class JeronimoTest {

@Test
public void test() {
LoggingHandler handler = new LoggingHandler();
Jeronimo server = new Jeronimo(handler);
assertEquals(handler.nbOfRequests(), 0);
server.receiveRequest(new Socket());

assertEquals(handler.nbOfRequests(), 1);
}
...
}
public class Jeronimo {
private RequestHandler requestHandler;
private boolean running;
private final int port = 8000;
private ServerSocket serverSocket;

public Jeronimo() {
this(new ThreadedHandler());
}

public Jeronimo(RequestHandler aRequestHandler) {

requestHandler = aRequestHandler;
}
...
public class Jeronimo {
private RequestHandler requestHandler;
private boolean running;
private final int port = 8000; In network, a
private ServerSocket serverSocket; port is a
public Jeronimo() {
particular
this(new ThreadedHandler()); channel number
}

public Jeronimo(RequestHandler aRequestHandler) {

requestHandler = aRequestHandler;
}
...
...
public void start() {
running = true;
this.servingLoop();
}
public void stop() {
running = false;
}

private void servingLoop() {

this.initServingSocket();
while (running) {
try {
// accept is a blocking operation
// it waits for a connection by a client
Socket socket = serverSocket.accept();
this.receiveRequest(socket);
}
catch (IOException e) {
System.err.println(e);
}
}
} ...
 ...
public void receiveRequest(Socket socket) {
requestHandler.serve(socket);
}

private void initServingSocket() {

try {
serverSocket = new ServerSocket(port);
} catch (IOException e) {
System.err.println("Cannot create the socket.
Maybe the port is already in use?");
System.exit(1);
}
}

public static void main(String[] argv) {

Jeronimo server = new Jeronimo();
server.start();
}
}
 Sending info to the client

public class ThreadedHandler implements RequestHandler,

Runnable {
...
@Override
public void run() {
increaseNumberOfReceivedRequests();
if (socket.isConnected()) {
this.send("<html>Hello World! Now is <i>"+
new Date().toString() +"</i></html>");
}
}
 private void send(String textToSend) {
BufferedOutputStream out;
try {
out = new
BufferedOutputStream(socket.getOutputStream());
sendHeader(out, textToSend.length());
out.write(textToSend.getBytes());
out.flush();
out.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
System.err.println("Error when writing");
}
}

// sendHeader write an http header HTTP 1.0 that is

understandable by the web browser
 Roadmap

1.What are threads?

2.The Jeronimo Web Server
3.Multiple executions
4.Scheduling
5.Synchronization
6.Closing words
7.Homework
 Two ways to create a thread

Java’s creators have designed two ways of creating

threads
Implementing the interface Runnable, or

Extending the class Thread

 The Thread class

defined as a class in the core Java language

implements an interface called Runnable
define a single abstract method called run()

public interface Runnable {

public void run();
}

public class Thread implements Runnable { ... }

 java.lang.Thread

There are a number of methods defined on the

Thread class
To query the thread to find its priority
To put it to sleep (note that sleep() is a static method)
Cause it to yield to another thread
stop, suspend, resume its execution
...
 Implementing Runnable

public class ThreadedHandler implements RequestHandler, Runnable {

@Override
public void serve(Socket aSocket) {
socket = aSocket;
Thread thread = new Thread(this);
thread.start();
}

@Override
public void run() {
...
}
}
 Creating a Thread

Steps
Create an object of type Runnable & bind it to a new Thread object

Or create an instance of a subclass of Thread

Start it

The Thread.start() method

creates the thread stack for the thread

then invokes the run() method of the Runnable object in the new
thread
 Threads operations

construction
usually done by passing a runnable object to the thread on
construction

starting
Invoking a thread’s start() method cases the run() method of the
runnable object to run

priority
Threads can be run at different priority levels
 Thread life cycle
just created

New
stop()
start()
Terminated
under execution death
Runnable

Waiting

waiting for
another thread waiting for
Timed_
waiting a monitor
Blocked
waiting for
another thread
up to a given time
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/lang/
Thread.State.html
 Issues with threads

Sharing and Synchronization

Threads may share access to objects (object state, open files, and
other resources) associated with a single process

Scheduling
if # of threads != # of cores (in the CPU), scheduling of threads is
an issue

Operations in different threads may occur in variety of orders

 Roadmap

1.What are threads?

2.The Jeronimo Web Server
3.Multiple executions
4.Scheduling
5.Synchronization
6.Closing words
7.Homework
 Example: a simple counter

public class SmallExample implements Runnable {

private String info;
public SmallExample(String info) { this.info = info; }

public void run () {

for(int i = 1; i < 10; i++) {
System.out.println(info + " " + i);
}
}

public static void main(String[] argv) {

new Thread(new SmallExample("thread1")).start();
new Thread(new SmallExample("thread2")).start();
new Thread(new SmallExample("thread3")).start();
}
}
 Example
thread1 1
thread1 2
thread1
thread1
3
4 Buh?
thread1 5
thread1
thread1
6
7
No parallelism?
thread1
thread1
8
9 What happened?
thread2 1
thread2 2
thread2 3
thread2 4
thread2 5
thread2 6
thread3 1
thread3 2
thread3 3
thread3 4
thread3 5
thread3 6
thread3 7
thread3 8
thread3 9
thread2 7
thread2 8
thread2 9
 Example
thread1 1
thread1 2
thread1
thread1
3
4 Buh?
thread1 5
thread1
thread1
6
7
No parallelism?
thread1
thread1
8
9 What happened?
thread2 1
thread2 2
thread2 3
thread2 4
thread2 5
thread2 6
thread3
thread3
1
2
Each thread did not
thread3
thread3
3
4 wait for the others
thread3 5
thread3 6
thread3 7
thread3 8
thread3 9
thread2 7
thread2 8
thread2 9
 Letting other thead execute

public class SmallExample implements Runnable {

private String info;
public SmallExample(String info) { this.info = info; }

public void run () {

for(int i = 1; i < 10; i++) {
System.out.println(info + " " + i);
Thread.yield(); //<= new instruction
}
}

public static void main(String[] argv) {

new Thread(new SmallExample("thread1")).start();
new Thread(new SmallExample("thread2")).start();
new Thread(new SmallExample("thread3")).start();
}
}
 Letting other thead execute

public class SmallExample implements Runnable {

private String info; Causes the
currently
public SmallExample(String info) { this.info = info; }

public void run () { executing thread

for(int i = 1; i < 10; i++) { object to
System.out.println(info + " " + i);
temporarily
Thread.yield(); //<= new instruction
} pause and allow
}
other threads to
public static void main(String[] argv) { execute.
new Thread(new SmallExample("thread1")).start();
new Thread(new SmallExample("thread2")).start();
new Thread(new SmallExample("thread3")).start();
}
}
 Slow down!

public class SmallExample implements Runnable {

private String info;
public SmallExample(String info) { this.info = info; }

public void run () {

for(int i = 1; i < 10; i++) {
System.out.println(info + " " + i);
try {
Thread.sleep(1000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
...
 Slow down!

public class SmallExample implements Runnable {

private String info;
Causes the currently
public SmallExample(String info) { this.info = info; }
executing thread to
public void run () {
for(int i = 1; i < 10; i++) {
sleep (temporarily
cease
System.out.println(info + " " + i); execution) for
try {
Thread.sleep(1000);
the specified number
ofe)milliseconds
} catch (InterruptedException {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
...
 Making a thread live
public class Counter implements Runnable {
private int value = 0;
public void run () {
while (true) {
System.out.println(value);
value ++;
waitSecond(1);
}
}
private void waitSecond(int i) { ... }

public static void main(String[] argv) {

Counter counter = new Counter();
Thread thread = new Thread(counter);
thread.start();
counter.waitSecond(3);
thread.stop();
} }
 Making a thread live
public class Counter implements Runnable {
private int value = 0;
public void run () {
while (true) {
System.out.println(value);
value ++;
waitSecond(1);
}
}
private void waitSecond(int i) { ... }

public static void main(String[] argv) {

Counter counter = new Counter();
Deprecated
Thread thread = new Thread(counter);
thread.start(); method!
counter.waitSecond(3);
thread.stop();
} }
 Making a thread live
public class Counter implements Runnable {
private int value = 0;
public void run () {
while (true) {
System.out.println(value);
value ++;
waitSecond(1);
}
}
private void waitSecond(int i) { ... }

public static void main(String[] argv) {

Counter counter = new Counter(); “This method is
inherently
Thread thread = new Thread(counter);
thread.start();
counter.waitSecond(3); unsafe.”
thread.stop();
} }
 How to make a counter stop then?
public class Counter implements Runnable {
private int value = 0;
public void run () {
while (true) {
System.out.println(value);
value ++;
waitSecond(1);
}
}
private void waitSecond(int i) { ... }

public static void main(String[] argv) {

Counter counter = new Counter(); “This method is
inherently
Thread thread = new Thread(counter);
thread.start();
counter.waitSecond(3); unsafe.”
thread.stop();
} }
 How to make a counter stop then?
public class Counter implements Runnable {
private int value = 0;
private boolean shouldRun = true;
public void run () {
while (shouldRun) { Introduce a
System.out.println(value);
value ++; running state
waitSecond(1);
}
}
public void stop() { shouldRun = false; }
private void waitSecond(int i) { ... }

public static void main(String[] argv) {

Counter counter = new Counter();
Thread thread = new Thread(counter);
thread.start();
counter.waitSecond(3);
counter.stop();
}
}
 Thread priority

Each thread runs at a given priority

The runtime chooses the runnable thread with the
highest priority for execution
A thread gets the Runnable state according to their
priority
When a Java thread is created, it inherits its priority
from the thread that created it
 Roadmap

1.What are threads?

2.The Jeronimo Web Server
3.Multiple executions
4.Scheduling
5.Synchronization
6.Closing words
7.Homework
 Synchronization

public class SynchronizedCounter {

private int c = 0;

public synchronized void increment() {

c++;
}

public synchronized void decrement() {

c--;
}

public synchronized int value() {

return c;
}
}
 Synchronization

If counter is an instance of SynchronizedCounter,

then having increment and decrement synchronized
has two effects:
First, it is not possible for two invocations of synchronized
methods on the same object to interleave. When one thread is
executing a synchronized method for an object, all other threads
that invoke synchronized methods for the same object block
(suspend execution) until the first thread is done with the object.

Second, when a synchronized method exits, it automatically

establishes a happens-before relationship with any subsequent
invocation of a synchronized method for the same object. This
guarantees that changes to the state of the object are visible to all
threads.

Note that constructors cannot be synchronized

 Synchronization

If counter is an instance of SynchronizedCounter,

then having increment and decrement synchronized
has two effects:
First, it is not possible for two invocations of synchronized
methods on the same object to interleave. When one thread is
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/
executing a synchronized method for an object, all other threads
that invoketutorial/essential/concurrency/
synchronized methods for the same object block
(suspend execution) until the first thread is done with the object.

syncmeth.html
Second, when a synchronized method exits, it automatically
establishes a happens-before relationship with any subsequent
invocation of a synchronized method for the same object. This
guarantees that changes to the state of the object are visible to all
threads.

Note that constructors cannot be synchronized

 Joining threads

It is often the case that one need to wait for all the
threads.

for (Thread thread : threads) {

thread.join();
}
// We exit the for loop only if all the
threads are completed
 Roadmap

1.What are threads?

2.The Jeronimo Web Server
3.Multiple execution
4.Scheduling
5.Synchronization
6.Closing words
7.Homework
 Conclusion

Java threads are the basis for expressing of

parallelism
necessary to use more than one core

convenient, nice encapsulation, cleanly integrated

can build flexible expression and management

Do not overuse Threads

It may leads to complex and hard-to-debug situations
 What you should know

What are threads?

Why threads are often necessary?
How to define a thread?
When you need to employ threads?
Understand what are the synchronization problems in
threading
What is a scheduler?
How to implement thread states and their transitions?
Can you answer to these questions?

Why each web request must be handled in a

separate thread?
Can you provide an example of synchronization
problem?
Why Thread.stop() is deprecated?
 Roadmap

1.What are threads?

2.The Jeronimo Web Server
3.Multiple execution
4.Scheduling
5.Synchronization
6.Closing words
7.Homework
 For Monday 13 November 2017

1 - Extent Jeronimo to indicate the number of served

requests
2 - Indicate the number of bytes sent over the
network