1. Advanced Programming in Java
Peyman Dodangeh
Sharif University of Technology
Spring 2015

2. Agenda Need for multi-thread programming Threads in java Samples
Synchronization
synchronized
wait & notify
join
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

3. Sequential Programming
Up to this point, we learned sequential programming.
Everything in a program happens one step at a time.
What is wrong with this approach?
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

4. Multitasking and Multithreading
Multitasking refers to a computer's ability to perform multiple jobs concurrently
more than one program are running concurrently, e.g., UNIX
A thread is a single sequence of execution within a program
Multithreading refers to multiple threads of control within a single program
each program can run multiple threads of control within it, e.g., Web Browser
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

5. Concurrency vs. Parallelism
CPU
CPU1
CPU2
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

6. Threads and Processes CPU Process 1 Process 2 Process 3 Process 4 main
run GC
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

7. What are Threads Good For?
To maintain responsiveness of an application during a long running task.
To enable cancellation of separable tasks.
Some problems are intrinsically parallel.
To monitor status of some resource (DB).
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

8. Parallel Processing Multi-Processor Systems Multi-core CPUs
Dual core
Core2duo
Corei7, corei5
Even with no multi-core processors, Multithreading is useful
How?
I/O bounded tasks
Responsive UI
Simulated multi-threading
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

9. OS Support Multi-task OS Multi-thread OS Single task OS Windows & Unix
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

10. Language Support
Some languages have no built-in mechanism for muli-threading
C, C++, …
QT as a solution
OS-dependent libraries
pthread in linux
Windows API
Java has multi-threading in its core language
Pros and cons
ISA experience
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

11. Application Thread When we execute an application:
The JVM creates a Thread object whose task is defined by the main() method
It starts the thread
The thread executes the statements of the program one by one until the method returns and the thread dies
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

12. Multiple Threads in an Application
Each thread has its private run-time stack
If two threads execute the same method, each will have its own copy of the local variables the methods uses
However, all threads see the same dynamic memory (heap)
Two different threads can act on the same object and same static fields concurrently
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

13. Creating Threads There are two ways to create our own Thread object
Subclassing the Thread class and instantiating a new object of that class
Implementing the Runnable interface
In both cases the run() method should be implemented
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

14. Extending Thread public class ThreadExample extends Thread {
public void run() {
for (int i = 1; i <= 100; i++) {
System.out.println("Thread: " + i); }
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

15. Thread Methods void start() void run()
Creates a new thread and makes it runnable
This method can be called only once
void run()
The new thread begins its life inside this method
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

16. Thread Methods sleep(int m)/sleep(int m,int n) yield()
The thread sleeps for m milliseconds, plus n nanoseconds
yield()
Causes the currently executing thread object to temporarily pause and allow other threads to execute
Allow only threads of the same priority to run
Nothing is guaranteed for this method
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

17. Implementing Runnable
public class RunnableExample
implements Runnable {
public void run () {
for (int i = 1; i <= 100; i++) {
System.out.println ("Runnable: " + i); }
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

18. A Runnable Object
The Thread object’s run() method calls the Runnable object’s run() method
Allows threads to run inside any object, regardless of inheritance
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

19. Starting the Threads public class ThreadsStartExample {
public static void main (String argv[]) {
new ThreadExample ().start ();
new Thread(new RunnableExample ()).start (); }
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

20. Scheduling Threads start() Ready queue Newly created threads
Currently executed
thread
Waiting for I/O operation to be completed
Waiting to be notified
Sleeping
Waiting to enter a synchronized section
I/O operation completes
What happens when
a program with a
ServerSocket calls
accept()?
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

21. Thread State Diagram Alive Running new ThreadExample();
while (…) { … }
New Thread
Runnable
Dead Thread
thread.start();
run() method returns
Blocked
Object.wait()
Thread.sleep()
blocking IO call
waiting on a monitor
Fall 2010
Sharif University of Technology

22. class ThreadExample extends Thread { public void run() {
MultiThreading.task("Thread"); }
class RunnableExample implements Runnable{
MultiThreading.task("Runnable");
public class MultiThreading {
public static void task(String taskName){
for (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
System.out.println(taskName + ": " + i);
try {
Thread.sleep(new Random().nextInt(10));
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

23. Running the Threads
ThreadExample thr1 = new ThreadExample(); thr1.start(); RunnableExample run1 = new RunnableExample(); new Thread(run1).start(); ThreadExample thr2 = new ThreadExample(); thr2.start(); RunnableExample run2 = new RunnableExample(); new Thread(run2).start();
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

24. Output First Run Second Run … Thread: 7 Runnable: 7 Thread: 9
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

25. GUI Example Start Counting  starts counting the counter
Stop Counting  stops counting the counter
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

26. UnresponsiveUI
StartButton: startButton.addActionListener( new ActionListener() { public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) { stop = false; for (int i = 0; i < ; i++) { if (stop) break; tfCount.setText("" + countValue); countValue++; } });
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class UnresponsiveUI extends JFrame {
private boolean stop = false;
private JTextField tfCount;
private int countValue = 1;
public UnresponsiveUI() { // constructor
Container cp = this.getContentPane();
cp.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER, 10, 10));
cp.add(new JLabel("Counter"));
tfCount = new JTextField("" + countValue, 10);
tfCount.setEditable(false);
cp.add(tfCount);
JButton startButton = new JButton("Start Counting");
cp.add(startButton);
startButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
stop = false;
for (int i = 0; i < ; i++) {
if (stop) break; // check if STOP button pushed
tfCount.setText("" + countValue);
countValue++; }
});
JButton stopButton = new JButton("Stop Counting");
cp.add(stopButton);
stopButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) { stop = true; }
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setTitle("Counter");
setSize(300, 120);
setVisible(true);
public static void main(String[] args) {
new UnresponsiveUI();
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

27. UnresponsiveUI (2) StopButton:
stopButton.addActionListener( new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
stop = true; }
});
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

28. ResponsiveUI
btnStart.addActionListener(new ActionListener() { public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) { stop = false; Thread t = new Thread() { public void run() { for (int i = 0; i < ; i++) { if (stop) break; tfCount.setText("" + countValue); countValue++; try { sleep(10); } catch (InterruptedException ex) {} } }; t.start(); });
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class ResponsiveUIwThread extends JFrame {
private boolean stop = false;
private JTextField tfCount;
private int countValue = 1;
public ResponsiveUIwThread() {
Container cp = getContentPane();
cp.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER, 10, 10));
cp.add(new JLabel("Counter"));
tfCount = new JTextField("" + countValue, 10);
tfCount.setEditable(false);
cp.add(tfCount);
JButton btnStart = new JButton("Start Counting");
cp.add(btnStart);
btnStart.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
stop = false;
Thread t = new Thread() {
public void run() {
for (int i = 0; i < ; i++) {
if (stop) break;
tfCount.setText("" + countValue);
countValue++;
// suspend this thread via sleep() and yield control to other threads
try {
sleep(10);
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {} } };
t.start();
});
JButton btnStop = new JButton("Stop Counting");
cp.add(btnStop);
btnStop.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) { stop = true; }
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setTitle("Counter");
setSize(300, 120);
setVisible(true);
public static void main(String[] args) {
new ResponsiveUIwThread();
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

29. Concurrency

30. Java Scheduling
Thread scheduling is the mechanism used to determine how runnable threads are allocated CPU time
Scheduler is based on priority of threads
The priority of a thread : the importance of a thread to the scheduler
Uses fixed-priority scheduling:
Threads are scheduled according to their priority
Priority is compared with other threads in the ready queue
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

31. Thread Priority
The scheduler will lean toward running the waiting thread with the highest priority first
Lower-priority threads just tend to run less often
The exact behavior depends on the platform
Usually, all threads should run at the default priority
Trying to manipulate thread priorities is usually a mistake
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

32. Thread Priority (2) Every thread has a priority
When a thread is created, it inherits the priority of the thread that created it
The priority values range from 1 to 10, in increasing priority
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

33. Thread Priority (3)
The priority can be adjusted subsequently using the setPriority() method
The priority of a thread may be obtained using getPriority()
Priority constants are defined:
MIN_PRIORITY=1
MAX_PRIORITY=10
NORM_PRIORITY=5
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

34. Some Notes
Thread implementation in Java is actually based on operating system support
Some Windows operating systems support only 7 priority levels, so different levels in Java may actually be mapped to the same operating system level
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

35. Daemon Threads
Daemon threads are “background” threads, that provide services to other threads, e.g., the garbage collection thread
The Java VM will not exit if non-Daemon threads are executing
The Java VM will exit if only Daemon threads are executing
Daemon threads die when the Java VM exits
A thread becomes a daemon with setDaemon() method
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

36. Concurrency
An object in a program can be changed by more than one thread
Q: Is the order of changes that were preformed on the object important?
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

37. Race Condition
A race condition – the outcome of a program is affected by the order in which the program's threads are allocated CPU time
Two threads are simultaneously modifying a single object
Both threads “race” to store their value
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

38. Race Condition Example
How can we have
alternating colors?
Put red pieces
Put green pieces
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

39. Monitors
Each object has a “monitor” that is a token used to determine which application thread has control of a particular object instance
In execution of a synchronized method (or block), access to the object monitor must be gained before the execution
Access to the object monitor is queued
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

40. Monitor (cont.)
Entering a monitor is also referred to as locking the monitor, or acquiring ownership of the monitor
If a thread A tries to acquire ownership of a monitor and a different thread has already entered the monitor, the current thread (A) must wait until the other thread leaves the monitor
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

41. Critical Section The synchronized methods define critical sections
Execution of critical sections is mutually exclusive. Why?
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

42. Example public class BankAccount { private float balance;
public synchronized void deposit(float amount) {
balance += amount; }
public synchronized void withdraw(float amount) {
balance -= amount;
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

43. Static Synchronized Methods
Marking a static method as synchronized, associates a monitor with the class itself
The execution of synchronized static methods of the same class is mutually exclusive. Why?
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

44. Synchronized Statements
A monitor can be assigned to a block
It can be used to monitor access to a data element that is not an object, e.g., array
Example:
void arrayShift(byte[] array, int count) {
synchronized(array) {
System.arraycopy (array, count,array, , array.size - count); }
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

45. Two Identical Methods private synchronized void g() { h(); }
Private void g() {
synchronized(this){
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

46. Join() A method can wait for finishing another thread
Using thread.join()
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

47. Wait and Notify Allows two threads to cooperate
Based on a single shared lock object
Marge put a cookie wait and notify Homer
Homer eat a cookie wait and notify Marge
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

48. The wait() Method
The wait() method is part of the java.lang.Object interface
It requires a lock on the object’s monitor to execute
It must be called from a synchronized method, or from a synchronized segment of code. Why?
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

49. The wait() Method
wait() causes the current thread to wait until another thread invokes the notify() method or the notifyAll() method for this object
Upon call for wait(), the thread releases ownership of this monitor and waits until another thread notifies the waiting threads of the object
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

50. The wait() Method wait() is also similar to yield()
Both take the current thread off the execution stack and force it to be rescheduled
However, wait() is not automatically put back into the scheduler queue
notify() must be called in order to get a thread back into the scheduler’s queue
Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology

51. Spring 2015
Sharif University of Technology