I'm having some issues with java multithreading, best explained on an example:
class Thread1 extends Thread
{
boolean val=false;
public void set()
{
val=true;
}
public void run()
{
while (true)
{
if(val==true)
{
System.out.println("true");
val=false;
}
try
{
sleep(1);
}
catch (InterruptedException e)
{
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}
So this is a simple class which is ran in a separate thread.
Now consider this case:
1) I start the thread in the class above
2) from some other thread I call the Thread1.set() function
3) the condition on the Thread1.run() function evaluates to true
Now, the thing is that if I remove the sleep(1) from the above code, this condition is never set to true.
So my question is: is there any other way I can interrupt the run() function so that
other functions may set the variables that would be used inside the run()function?
(I'm making a game on Android, so the openGL renderer runs in one thread and my game logic thread would run in another thread and I would like to sync them every frame or two),
If only a single thread (i.e. one other than the thread reading it) is modifying val, then make it volatile.
Your boolean variable is not volatile which means there is no guarantee that two different threads are seeing the same value. By sleeping it the virtual machine might cause the value set from a different thread to become visible to the thread (this is a guess - nothing more), but this behavior should not be relied upon in any way. You should either use a volatile boolean variable or an AtomicBoolean class depending on your needs.
Related
class Common
{
public synchronized void synchronizedMethod1()
{
System.out.println("synchronized Method1 called");
try
{
Thread.sleep(1000);
}
catch (InterruptedException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
System.out.println("synchronized Method1 done");
}
public synchronized void synchronizedMethod2()
{
System.out.println("synchronized Method2 called");
try
{
Thread.sleep(1000);
}
catch (InterruptedException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
System.out.println("synchronized Method2 done");
}
}
In the above class I have two synchronized methods which I am calling from run method of another class. Other class code is given below:
public class ThreadClass implements Runnable
{
private int id = 0;
private Common common;
public ThreadClass(int no, Common object)
{
common = object;
id = no;
}
public void run()
{
System.out.println("Running Thread " + Thread.currentThread().getName());
try
{
if (id == 11)
{
common.synchronizedMethod1();
}
else
{
common.synchronizedMethod2();
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Common c = new Common();
ThreadClass tc = new ThreadClass(11, c);
ThreadClass tc1 = new ThreadClass(20, c);
Thread t1 = new Thread(tc, "Thread 1");
Thread t2 = new Thread(tc1, "Thread 2");
t1.start();
t2.start();
}
}
From main method I am starting two different threads. In run method I have given a condition to send both different threads to different synchronized methods. Output produced by the code is:
Running Thread Thread 2
Running Thread Thread 1
synchronized Method2 called
synchronized Method2 done
synchronized Method1 called
synchronized Method1 done
MY QUESTION FOR THE OUTPUT IS:
When thread 2 goes to synchronized Method2 it prints 3rd line of output and goes to sleep for 1 second. Now since thread 1 is not blocked by anything so it should execute and print 5th line of the output just after 3rd line of output and should go to sleep then but this is not happening instead when thread 2 goes to sleep it make's thread 1 also sleep then first thread 2 complete's its execution after which thread 1 completes its execution.
Such a behavior is not happening if I remove synchronized keyword from methods.
Can you please explain me the reason behind different way of processing the code with and without synchronized keywords.
Thanks in advance.
Such a behavior is not happening if I remove synchronized keyword from methods. Can you please explain me the reason behind different way of processing the code with and without synchronized keywords.
This is actually the entire purpose of the synchronized keyword. When you have several synchronized instance methods of the same class, only one may be executing at a time. You have written this:
class Common {
public synchronized void synchronizedMethod1(){}
public synchronized void synchronizedMethod2(){}
}
Because both methods are synchronized, only one may be executed at once. One of them can't start the other one is done.
How does this work? In short, you have a Common object and call a synchronized instance method of it. When you call synchronzedMethod1, that method will "lock" the Common object (called "acquiring the lock"). While that method has that lock on that Common object, if you try to call any other synchronized method on that same object, it will try to lock it and it will find that it's already locked. So any other attempt to lock the object will hang until they can do so. Once synchronizedMethod1 finishes, it will unlock the Common object (called "releasing the lock") and anybody can then try to lock it, such as synchronzedMethod2.
So in short, synchronized specifically makes it so you can't have two synchronized methods of the same class happening at once. This is useful because some problematic behavior can come from not doing this. As an example, ArrayList does not do this, so if one thread tries to add an object to an ArrayList while another tries to iterate over it, it might throw a ConcurrentModificationException and make everyone sad.
A sleeping thread does not release its locks, but you can replace your sleep(...) calls with wait(...). Keep in mind, though, that only the lock of the object having wait(...) called on it will be released, so you'd have to devise a different solution if you expected multiple locks to be released while waiting.
synchronising a method doesnt mean just the method itself synchronised
synchronized void x(){}
equals to:
void x(){
synchronised(this){}
}
Since both thread access same Common instance first thread will get the ownership of the Common object lock doesnt matter which synchronised method called and it will just release this lock after this method body completed its job.
If you would send two Common instance there would not be a problem since they are not static. Also you might be interested in ReentrantLock
First of all synchronized keyword is used to define mutual exclusion. Here mutual exclusion achieved by Monitor concept. One more thing is sleep does not release monitor. It just pause the execution of current thread for some time. Other threads which requires the monitor have to wait until the thread which acquired monitor release it.
There is two ways to use synchronized...
First one is using synchronized blocks.
synchronized(obj){...}
Here if any thread want to enter into synchronized block it have to get monitor of obj.
Second one is to using synchronized method.
synchronized void meth(){...}
Main difference between synchronised method & block is synchronised method use monitor of object it self & synchronised block can have monitor of any object.
Synchronized method can be defined using synchronized block as follows...
void meth(){
synchronized (this){
//method body
}
}
Now you can use the synchronised block to prevent the problem of blocking another method. Here you have to define synchronised block on different objects so both methods can execute concurrently but multiple threads can not execute same method concurrently.
I have threads dedicated to users on a system, and I want to be able to stop them individually, do I store the ID of the thread with the userdata at creation and then call an interrupt? or can I somehow add the thread to my user objects and just call it like myuser.mythread.interrupt(); or is this whishing for magic?
Currently I can stop them all and restart without the thread I want.
But that is a time consuming task and also triggers a lag where users must wait.
Update, can this be an answer?
if(delete==true) {
if (Thread.currentThread().getId() == deleteId) {
Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
delete=false;
}
}
Update
I managed to find a way to use myuser.mythread.interrupt();
Or sort of..
I added the thread as a sub class to the user class and created a method in the user class to start and interrupt, now i can start and stop threads with
online.get(1).hellos();
online.get(1).hellosStop();
Instead of having to create a reference and keeping track of anything else than the user objects.
Update (regarding accepted answer, using the id as a reference I could do it this way)
public class MyRunnable implements Runnable {
private boolean runThread = true;
#Override
public void run() {
try {
while (runThread) {
if(delete==true) {
if (Thread.currentThread().getId() == deleteId) {
Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
delete=false;
}
}
Thread.sleep(5);
}
}
catch (InterruptedException e) {
// Interrupted, no need to check flag, just exit
return;
}
}
}
You can just store the Thread reference, perhaps in a WeakReference so that the thread will go away if it exits on its own.
But you can also have the Thread check an AtomicBoolean (or volatile boolean) every now and then to see if it was interrupted, that way you don't need a reference to the thread.
Note though that stopping threads in Java is not possible without cooperation from the thread you want to stop. It doesn't matter if you use interrupt or a boolean that it checks, in both cases it is up to the thread to check these flags (interrupt just sets a flag) and then perform some action like exiting.
Update
A sample interruptable thread class:
public class MyRunnable implements Runnable {
private final AtomicBoolean stopFlag;
public MyRunnable(AtomicBoolean stopFlag) {
this.stopFlag = stopFlag;
}
#Override
public void run() {
try { // Try/Catch only needed if you use locks/sleep etc.
while (!stopFlag.get()) {
// Do some work, but remember to check flag often!
}
}
catch (InterruptedException e) {
// Interrupted, no need to check flag, just exit
return;
}
}
}
The best approach is to save the Thread reference and make it available to the code that needs to interrupt it.
It is technically possible (for a non-sandboxed application) to traverse the tree of all of the JVM's existing threads testing each one. However, that is expensive and doesn't scale. And if you can store or pass the id of a thread, then you should be able to store or pass the Thread reference instead.
It is also technically possible to create your own WeakHashMap<Long, Thread> and use that to map thread ids to threads. But the same argument applies ....
You ask if this is a solution:
if (delete) {
if (Thread.currentThread().getId() == deleteId) {
Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
delete = false;
}
}
No it isn't. Or more precisely, it will only "work" in the case where the thread is interrupting itself. In other cases, the target thread won't be interrupted.
Depending on your use-case, another way to do this could be to use an ExecutionService rather than bare threads. The submit methods return a Future object that represents the submitted task. The object has a cancel(...) method that can be used to cancel the task, either before it runs, or by interrupting the running thread.
I have a class that has the object "Card". This class keeps checking to see if the object is not null anymore. Only one other thread can update this object. Should I just do it like the code below? Use volatile?Syncronized? lock (which I dont know how to use really)? What do you recommend as easiest solution?
Class A{
public Card myCard = null;
public void keepCheck(){
while(myCard == null){
Thread.sleep(100)
}
//value updated
callAnotherMethod();
}
Another thread has following:
public void run(){
a.myCard = new Card(5);
}
What do you suggest?
You should use a proper wait event (see the Guarded Block tutorial), otherwise you run the risk of the "watching" thread seeing the reference before it sees completely initialized member fields of the Card. Also wait() will allow the thread to sleep instead of sucking up CPU in a tight while loop.
For example:
Class A {
private final Object cardMonitor = new Object();
private volatile Card myCard;
public void keepCheck () {
synchronized (cardMonitor) {
while (myCard == null) {
try {
cardMonitor.wait();
} catch (InterruptedException x) {
// either abort or ignore, your choice
}
}
}
callAnotherMethod();
}
public void run () {
synchronized (cardMonitor) {
myCard = new Card(5);
cardMonitor.notifyAll();
}
}
}
I made myCard private in the above example. I do recommend avoiding lots of public fields in a case like this, as the code could end up getting messy fast.
Also note that you do not need cardMonitor -- you could use the A itself, but having a separate monitor object lets you have finer control over synchronization.
Beware, with the above implementation, if run() is called while callAnotherMethod() is executing, it will change myCard which may break callAnotherMethod() (which you do not show). Moving callAnotherMethod() inside the synchronized block is one possible solution, but you have to decide what the appropriate strategy is there given your requirements.
The variable needs to be volatile when modifying from a different thread if you intend to poll for it, but a better solution is to use wait()/notify() or even a Semaphore to keep your other thread sleeping until myCard variable is initialized.
Looks like you have a classic producer/consumer case.
You can handle this case using wait()/notify() methods. See here for an example: How to use wait and notify in Java?
Or here, for more examples: http://www.programcreek.com/2009/02/notify-and-wait-example/
I'm looking for a clean design/solution for this problem: I have two threads, that may run as long as the user wants to, but eventually stop when the user issues the stop command. However if one of the threads ends abruptly (eg. because of a runtime exception) I want to stop the other thread.
Now both threads execute a Runnable (so when I say 'stop a thread' what I mean is that I call a stop() method on the Runnable instance), what I'm thinking is to avoid using threads (Thread class) and use the CompletionService interface and then submit both Runnables to an instance of this service.
With this I would use the CompletionService's method take(), when this method returns I would stop both Runnables since I know that at least one of them already finished. Now, this works, but if possible I would like to know of a simpler/better solution for my case.
Also, what is a good solution when we have n threads and as soon as one of them finishes to stop execution of all the others ?
Thanks in advance.
There is no Runnable.stop() method, so that is an obvious non-starter.
Don't use Thread.stop()! It is fundamentally unsafe in the vast majority of cases.
Here are a couple of approaches that should work, if implemented correctly.
You could have both threads regularly check some common flag variable (e.g. call it stopNow), and arrange that both threads set it when they finish. (The flag variable needs to be volatile ... or properly synchronized.)
You could have both threads regularly call the Thread.isInterrupted() method to see if it has been interrupted. Then each thread needs to call Thread.interrupt() on the other one when it finishes.
I know Runnable doesn't have that method, but my implementation of Runnable that I pass to the threads does have it, and when calling it the runner will finish the run() method (something like Corsika's code, below this answer).
From what I can tell, Corsika's code assumes that there is a stop() method that will do the right thing when called. The real question is how have you do implemented it? Or how do you intend to implement it?
If you already have an implementation that works, then you've got a solution to the problem.
Otherwise, my answer gives two possible approaches to implementing the "stop now" functionality.
I appreciate your suggestions, but I have a doubt, how does 'regularly check/call' translate into code ?
It entirely depends on the task that the Runnable.run() method performs. It typically entails adding a check / call to certain loops so that the test happens reasonably often ... but not too often. You also want to check only when it would be safe to stop the computation, and that is another thing you must work out for yourself.
The following should help to give you some ideas of how you might apply it to your problem. Hope it helps...
import java.util.*;
public class x {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ThreadManager<Thread> t = new ThreadManager<Thread>();
Thread a = new MyThread(t);
Thread b = new MyThread(t);
Thread c = new MyThread(t);
t.add(a);
t.add(b);
t.add(c);
a.start();
b.start();
c.start();
}
}
class ThreadManager<T> extends ArrayList<T> {
public void stopThreads() {
for (T t : this) {
Thread thread = (Thread) t;
if (thread.isAlive()) {
try { thread.interrupt(); }
catch (Exception e) {/*ignore on purpose*/}
}
}
}
}
class MyThread extends Thread {
static boolean signalled = false;
private ThreadManager m;
public MyThread(ThreadManager tm) {
m = tm;
}
public void run() {
try {
// periodically check ...
if (this.interrupted()) throw new InterruptedException();
// do stuff
} catch (Exception e) {
synchronized(getClass()) {
if (!signalled) {
signalled = true;
m.stopThreads();
}
}
}
}
}
Whether you use a stop flag or an interrupt, you will need to periodically check to see whether a thread has been signalled to stop.
You could give them access to eachother, or a callback to something that had access to both so it could interrupt the other. Consider:
MyRunner aRunner = new MyRunner(this);
MyRunner bRunner = new MyRunner(this);
Thread a = new Thread(aRunner);
Thread b = new Thread(brunner);
// catch appropriate exceptions, error handling... probably should verify
// 'winner' actually is a or b
public void stopOtherThread(MyRunner winner) {
if(winner == aRunner ) bRunner .stop(); // assumes you have stop on class MyRunner
else aRunner.stop();
}
// later
a.start();
b.start();
// in your run method
public void run() {
// la de da de da
// awesome code
while(true) fork();
// other code here
myRunnerMaster.stopOtherThread(this);
}
I didn't fully understand the concept of threads I have some questions. Assume we have the following code:
ExecCommand.java
// I don't know how this work, for now
package therads;
// Here we will have the methods and run them from the Main.java
public class ExecCommand implements Runnable
{
String name;
int time;
public ExecCommand(String s,int amount)
{
name = s;
time = amount;
}
// Run method (Runnable)
public void run()
{
try
{
// What to execute when the thread is started
System.out.printf("%s is sleeping for %d\n",name,time);
Thread.sleep(time);
System.out.printf("%s is done\n",name);
}
catch(Exception e)
{
}
}
// This dosen't work when the thread is stopped
public void stop()
{
try
{
System.out.printf("STOPPED!");
}
catch(Exception e)
{
}
}
// This dosen't work when the thread is started
public void start()
{
try
{
System.out.printf("Started!");
}
catch(Exception e)
{
}
}
}
and i call him from :
Main.java
Thread t5 = new Thread(new ExecCommand("Good Function",1000));
t5.start();
I want to println() "Started" when the thread is started and "Stopped" when it finished. It is possible?
When a thread is completed, it dies, complete released from memory? If not, how i can do that?
How can i make a thread that repeat itself like once every 1000 miliseconds till i press a key? I was thinking about while(true) { t5.start; }
but i don't know for sure.
First of all, there is no point in using the start and stop methods. Everything happens in the run method.
To print a message on start and stop, put them at the start and end of the run method. To loop indefinitely and keep executing code until an outside event happens, use a flag and loop on it:
class ThreadTask implements Runnable {
private volatile boolean flag = false;
public void setFlag(boolean value) {
flag = value;
}
public void run() {
System.out.println("Started");
while(!flag) {
// execute code
}
System.out.println("Stopped");
}
}
Then when you want the thread to stop, just set the flag to true using setFlag.
And yes, threads are automatically cleaned up by the runtime + OS after the run method terminates.
Why or when would you expect your .start() and .stop() to be called? Runnable has only a single method in the interface; .run(). The JavaDocs for Thread cover it pretty well. http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/lang/Thread.html. If you want something to happen when your Thread starts, put that something at the top of your .run(). If you want something to happen when your Thread is finishing, put it at the bottom of the .run(). By-in-large doing anything with the .start() and .stop() methods on Thread is discouraged. Concentrate on doing all you lifecycle stuff within your .run(). And get a copy of "Java Concurrency in Practice" by Goetz. It will show you the full range of your options (including don't do you own Threading directly).
You are not supposed to override the start and stop methods. They are not callback methods.
What you want is something akin to the SwingWorker class (assuming you are interested in UI related threading synchronization).
If not, you can subclass Thread yourself and provide a callback mechanism.
Yes of course. You can just print "Started" in the first line of your run() method, and print "Stopped" either in a finally section of run() method or just after t5.join()
You are not told about the details, and cannot do anything. But you can assume the resources are freed as soon as necessary. (Of course if you have reachable links for any references allocated within your thread, JVM cannot decide that these are of no use, so "complete" is not a proper word here.)
Take a look at java.util.Timer
If you prefer to use System.out.println instead of printf just change those lines of code. There's nothing thread-related about those calls.
The thread will be collected and released from memory by the garbage collector when it has stopped running and there are no live references to it. Same as all objects.
Don't override stop(). This has been deprecated and should really be dealt with by the JVM, not your application code. Just override run to implement whatever you want your thread to do, as per the docs
You can use Thread.sleep to sleep for a period of time. How accurate the sleep will be will depend on your platform and the resolution of the available system clock.