Java Multithreading

Multithreading
The objectives of this chapter are:
To understand the purpose of multithreading
To describe Java's multithreading mechanism
To explain concurrency issues caused by multithreading
To outline synchronized access to shared resources

Multithreading is similar to multi-processing.
A multi-processing Operating System can run several
processes at the same time
Each process has its own address/memory space
The OS's scheduler decides when each process is executed
Only one process is actually executing at any given time. However, the
system appears to be running several programs simultaneously
Separate processes to not have access to each other's
memory space
Many OSes have a shared memory system so that processes can share
memory space
• In a multithreaded application, there are several points of
execution within the same memory space.
• Each point of execution is called a thread
• Threads share access to memory
What is Multithreading?

In a single threaded application, one thread of execution must
do everything
If an application has several tasks to perform, those tasks will be
performed when the thread can get to them.
A single task which requires a lot of processing can make the entire
application appear to be "sluggish" or unresponsive.
• In a multithreaded application, each task can be performed by
a separate thread
If one thread is executing a long process, it does not make the entire
application wait for it to finish.
• If a multithreaded application is being executed on a system
that has multiple processors, the OS may execute separate
threads simultaneously on separate processors.
Why use Multithreading?

Any kind of application which has distinct tasks which can be
performed independently
Any application with a GUI.
Threads dedicated to the GUI can delegate the processing of user
requests to other threads.
The GUI remains responsive to the user even when the user's requests
are being processed
Any application which requires asynchronous response
Network based applications are ideally suited to multithreading.
Data can arrive from the network at any time.
In a single threaded system, data is queued until the thread can read
the data
In a multithreaded system, a thread can be dedicated to listening for
data on the network port
When data arrives, the thread reads it immediately and processes it
or delegates its processing to another thread
What Kind of Applications Use Multithreading?

Each thread is given its own "context"
A thread's context includes virtual registers and its own calling stack
• The "scheduler" decides which thread executes at any given
time
The VM may use its own scheduler
Since many OSes now directly support multithreading, the VM may use
the system's scheduler for scheduling threads
• The scheduler maintains a list of ready threads (the run
queue) and a list of threads waiting for input (the wait queue)
Each thread has a priority. The scheduler typically schedules
between the highest priority threads in the run queue
Note: the programmer cannot make assumptions about how threads are
going to be scheduled. Typically, threads will be executed differently on
different platforms.
How does it all work?

Few programming languages directly support threading
Although many have add-on thread support
Add on thread support is often quite cumbersome to use
The Java Virtual machine has its own runtime threads
Used for garbage collection
Threads are represented by a Thread class
A thread object maintains the state of the thread
It provides control methods such as interrupt, start, sleep, yield, wait
When an application executes, the main method is executed
by a single thread.
If the application requires more threads, the application must create
them.
Thread Support in Java

Threads can be in one of four states
Created, Running, Blocked, and Dead
A thread's state changes based on:
Control methods such as start, sleep, yield, wait, notify
Termination of the run method
Thread States
Created Runnable Blocked
Dead
start()Thread()
run() method terminates
sleep()
wait()
notify()

The thread class has a run() method
run() is executed when the thread's start() method is invoked
The thread terminates if the run method terminates
To prevent a thread from terminating, the run method must not end
run methods often have an endless loop to prevent thread termination
One thread starts another by calling its start method
The sequence of events can be confusing to those more familiar with a
single threaded model.
How does a Thread run?
Thread1
Thread Object
start() Thread2
run()

The obvious way to create your own threads is to subclass the
Thread class and then override the run() method
This is the easiest way to do it
It is not the recommended way to do it.
• Because threads are usually associated with a task, the object
which provides the run method is usually a subclass of some
other class
If it inherits from another class, it cannot inherit from Thread.
The solution is provided by an interface called Runnable.
Runnable defines one method - public void run()
One of the Thread classes constructor takes a reference to a
Runnable object
When the thread is started, it invokes the run method in the runnable
object instead of its own run method.
Creating your own Threads

In the example below, when the Thread object is instantiated,
it is passed a reference to a "Runnable" object
The Runnable object must implement a method called "run"
• When the thread object receives a start message, it checks to
see if it has a reference to a Runnable object:
• If it does, it runs the "run" method of that object
• If not, it runs its own "run" method
Using Runnable
Thread1
Thread Object
start() Thread2
run()
Runnable
Object
run()

Runnable
Object
Example Code
public class Test implements Runnable
{
private Thread theThread;
public void start()
{
if (theThread == null)
{
theThread = new Thread(this);
theThread.start();
}
}
public void run()
{
// This method runs in its
// own thread
} Thread1
Thread Object
start()
Thread2
run() run()
start()Thread(Runnable)

In Java 1.1, the Thread class had a stop() method
One thread could terminate another by invoking its stop() method.
However, using stop() could lead to deadlocks
The stop() method is now deprecated. DO NOT use the stop method to
terminate a thread
• The correct way to stop a thread is to have the run method
terminate
• Add a boolean variable which indicates whether the thread should
continue or not
• Provide a set method for that variable which can be invoked by another
thread
Properly Terminating Threads

public class Test implements Runnable
{
private Thread theThread;
private boolean stopThread = false;
public void start()
{
if (theThread == null)
{
theThread = new Thread(this);
theThread.start();
}
}
public void setStopThread(boolean aValue)
{
stopThread = aValue;
}
public void run()
{
while(true)
{
if (stopThread)
break;
// ....
Terminating Thread Example

The previous example illustrates a Runnable class which
creates its own thread when the start method is invoked.
If one wished to create multiple threads, one could simple
create multiple instances of the Runnable class and send each
object a start message
Each instance would create its own thread object
Is the a maximum number of threads which can be created?
There is no defined maximum in Java.
If the VM is delegating threads to the OS, then this is platform
dependent.
A good rule of thumb for maximum thread count is to allow 2Mb of ram
for each thread
Although threads share the same memory space, this can be a
reasonable estimate of how many threads your machine can handle.
Creating Multiple Threads

Every thread is assigned a priority (between 1 and 10)
The default is 5
The higher the number, the higher the priority
Can be set with setPriority(int aPriority)
• The standard mode of operation is that the scheduler executes
threads with higher priorities first.
This simple scheduling algorithm can cause problems. Specifically, one
high priority thread can become a "CPU hog".
A thread using vast amounts of CPU can share CPU time with other
threads by invoking the yield() method on itself.
Most OSes do not employ a scheduling algorithm as simple as
this one
Most modern OSes have thread aging
The more CPU a thread receives, the lower its priority becomes
The more a thread waits for the CPU, the higher its priority becomes
Because of thread aging, the effect of setting a thread's priority is
dependent on the platform
Thread Priorities

Sometimes a thread can determine that it has nothing to do
Sometimes the system can determine this. ie. waiting for I/O
• When a thread has nothing to do, it should not use CPU
This is called a busy-wait.
Threads in busy-wait are busy using up the CPU doing nothing.
Often, threads in busy-wait are continually checking a flag to see if
there is anything to do.
It is worthwhile to run a CPU monitor program on your desktop
You can see that a thread is in busy-wait when the CPU monitor goes up
(usually to 100%), but the application doesn't seem to be doing anything.
• Threads in busy-wait should be moved from the Run queue to
the Wait queue so that they do not hog the CPU
• Use yield() or sleep(time)
• Yield simply tells the scheduler to schedule another thread
• Sleep guarantees that this thread will remain in the wait queue for the
specified number of milliseconds.
Yield() and Sleep()

Those familiar with databases will understand that concurrent
access to data can lead to data integrity problems
Specifically, if two sources attempt to update the same data at
the same time, the result of the data can be undefined.
The outcome is determined by how the scheduler schedules
the two sources.
Since the schedulers activities cannot be predicted, the outcome cannot
be predicted
Databases deal with this mechanism through "locking"
If a source is going to update a table or record, it can lock the table or
record until such time that the data has been successfully updated.
While locked, all access is blocked except to the source which holds the
lock.
Java has the equivalent mechanism. It is called synchronization
Java has a keyword called synchronized
Concurrent Access to Data

In Java, every object has a lock
To obtain the lock, you must synchronize with the object
The simplest way to use synchronization is by declaring one or
more methods to be synchronized
When a synchronized method is invoked, the calling thread attempts to
obtain the lock on the object.
if it cannot obtain the lock, the thread goes to sleep until the lock
becomes available
Once the lock is obtained, no other thread can obtain the lock until it is
released. ie, the synchronized method terminates
When a thread is within a synchronized method, it knows that no other
synchronized method can be invoked by any other thread
Therefore, it is within synchronized methods that critical data is updated
Synchronization

If an object contains data which may be updated from multiple
thread sources, the object should be implemented in a thread-
safe manner
All access to critical data should only be provided through synchronized
methods (or synchronized blocks).
In this way, we are guaranteed that the data will be updated by only one
thread at a time.
Providing Thread Safe Access to Data
public class SavingsAccount
{
private float balance;
public synchronized void withdraw(float anAmount)
{
if ((anAmount>0.0) && (anAmount<=balance))
balance = balance - anAmount;
}
public synchronized void deposit(float anAmount)
{
if (anAmount>0.0)
balance = balance + anAmount;
}

However, there is an overhead associated with synchronization
Many threads may be waiting to gain access to one of the object's
synchronized methods
The object remains locked as long as a thread is within a synchronized
method.
Ideally, the method should be kept as short as possible.
Another solution is to provide synchronization on a block of
code instead of the entire method
In this case, the object's lock is only held for the time that the thread is
within the block.
The intent is that we only lock the region of code which requires access to
the critical data. Any other code within the method can occur without the
lock.
In high load situations where multiple threads are attempting to access
critical data, this is by far a much better implementation.
Thread Safety Performance Issues

public class SavingsAccount
{
private float balance;
public void withdraw(float anAmount)
{
if (anAmount<0.0)
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Withdraw amount negative");
synchronized(this)
{
if (anAmount<=balance)
balance = balance - anAmount;
}
}
public void deposit(float anAmount)
{
if (anAmount<0.0)
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Deposit amount negative");
synchronized(this)
{
balance = balance + anAmount;
}
}
Block Synchronization

Java Multithreading

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