Java Thread Programming

By Paul Hyde

Java Thread Programming shows you how to take full advantage of Java's thread facilities: when to use threads to increase your program's efficiency, how to use them effectively, and how to avoid... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0672315858
• ISBN13: 9780672315855
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Sams Publishing
• Length: 510 Pages
• Weight: 1.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Essential for the Java Programmer certification

I was studying for the SJCP exam. I had every certification book in the house. However, none of the certification books were covering threads in a coherent manner that allowed me to master the threading part of the exam. This book did. I went from scratching my head at why I missed a thread question in the 100's of practice certification exams to scoring 100's in the thread section of the exams. For those of you that are doing your certification, get this book to supplement the exam guides.

Thanks for the clear, well written book with many examples

Paul does an extremely good job of explaining threads. Eventhough I haven't yet completed the book, I have already gottenmy moneys worth out of it..It has been quite awhile since I looked into threads. I've hadlittle opportunity to use them, and none in Java. So, I wasquite pleased to see the number of very positive comments aboutthis book. I have yet to understand the harsh rating by Dan..I bought this book (mainly because of the number of goodreviews) because I had a problem I was trying to solve. Sincegetting the book, I've worked my way through 8 chapters, andhave greatly enjoyed reading the material, as well as havinglearned/relearned a vast amount about Java threads..Pros:- Excellent writing style- Very few (as far as I can tell anyway ;-) errors- Use of a variety of example styles to demonstrate thread relationships, and timings - these make for much better comprehension of the material..Cons: (nothing significant)- End of section/chapter exercises could be of benefit.

Great into to Threading

Another outstanding Sam's title. The progression of concepts in Java Thread Programming is very clear and the example code is great. I found Hyde's progressive build up of small example applications particularly useful. That's how it happens in real life!I think this is a better book for beginners than the O'Reilly Java Thread's book. The O'Reilly book tends to quickly pile through each concept while the Sam's book takes a more leisurely approach. The O'Reilly book also occasionally goes off on tangents. Hyde's book, however, points out potential sources of trouble while taking an easy to follow, serial thread to understanding asynchronous programming in Java.

Beautiful Book!

I just wanted to express my sincerest appreciation for this book. It has really helped me build a solid foundation of threading in Java. The examples are easy to follow and the way that the author refers to the code line numbers in the text is very helpful. Concepts that I never quite grasped were explained in such a simple manner that I was left thinking "It's so easy! Why did I have trouble understanding this before!?".I wanted to point out a few sections of the book that were especially helpful:1) Synchronized Statement Block (pg 144-146). I have attained my Java certification at the programmer level, so I already knew how to use the synchronized keyword as method modifiers and in blocks. However, this section of the book really cleared up the concept of what it actually means to get a synchronized lock on an object. This line, on page 144, made it all clear: "... obj is a reference to the object whose object-level lock must be acquired before entering the block of code."2) I can't find the page number, but the book makes a reference to the point that when two threads are running you can't be sure when the thread scheduler will remove it from the running state and place another thread into the running state. This really helped me understand how multi-threading programs work in general. Instead of talking about threads as slices of time (as some texts do), it was much easier to understand the concept of the almighty thread scheduler taking individual threads on or off the running state and that when they would be placed back into the running state, they would continue from where they left off before.3) Deadlocks (pp 160-165). I have heard of this situation before but never really understood how a situation like this could arise. The diagram on page 161 and sample program on page 161 really brought the point home.4) The Wait/Notify Mechanism (pp 168). The example on page 169 helped me understand why wait( ), notify( ), and notifyAll( ) are part of the Object class. I often wondered why these methods weren't part of the Thread class. This entire chapter was a pleasure to read because it clearly explained how wait and notify work and how they should to be used. The timing diagrams were also very helpful.5) Threads and Swing (Chapter 9). The motivation example (page 232) for why it is sometimes necessary to create a new thread in a Swing application really helped me get a better understanding of the event dispatching thread. This made it very easy to understand SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait( ) and SwingUtilities.invokeLater( ).I have a few suggestions for future editions of the book. The first suggestion is for providing exercises at the end of each chapter. Or perhaps there could be a Part 3 to the book which lists multi-threaded programming projects that readers can try. For example, I wrote the CubbyHole program on page 192 by myself, before looking at the code in the book. The second suggestion is to have more information a

Great hands on book with excellent examples

Threads are a tricky business and while Java makes their use easier there are still lots of pitfalls and gotchas. This is the first book I've found with solid examples that have already helped me solve some problems I am working on. Other books, while sometimes good (Lea's book comes to mind) are more theory and less example based than I like. This book on the other hand, is full of useful examples. Highly recommended, although getting the source code should be easier for non windows users. If you have trouble email the author. He was very helpful when I dropped him a note.