1 /* 2 * Written by Doug Lea with assistance from members of JCP JSR-166 3 * Expert Group and released to the public domain, as explained at 4 * http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain 5 */ 6 7 package java.util.concurrent; 8 9 /** 10 * An object that executes submitted {@link Runnable} tasks. This 11 * interface provides a way of decoupling task submission from the 12 * mechanics of how each task will be run, including details of thread 13 * use, scheduling, etc. An <tt>Executor</tt> is normally used 14 * instead of explicitly creating threads. For example, rather than 15 * invoking <tt>new Thread(new(RunnableTask())).start()</tt> for each 16 * of a set of tasks, you might use: 17 * 18 * <pre> 19 * Executor executor = <em>anExecutor</em>; 20 * executor.execute(new RunnableTask1()); 21 * executor.execute(new RunnableTask2()); 22 * ... 23 * </pre> 24 * 25 * However, the <tt>Executor</tt> interface does not strictly 26 * require that execution be asynchronous. In the simplest case, an 27 * executor can run the submitted task immediately in the caller's 28 * thread: 29 * 30 * <pre> 31 * class DirectExecutor implements Executor { 32 * public void execute(Runnable r) { 33 * r.run(); 34 * } 35 * }</pre> 36 * 37 * More typically, tasks are executed in some thread other 38 * than the caller's thread. The executor below spawns a new thread 39 * for each task. 40 * 41 * <pre> 42 * class ThreadPerTaskExecutor implements Executor { 43 * public void execute(Runnable r) { 44 * new Thread(r).start(); 45 * } 46 * }</pre> 47 * 48 * Many <tt>Executor</tt> implementations impose some sort of 49 * limitation on how and when tasks are scheduled. The executor below 50 * serializes the submission of tasks to a second executor, 51 * illustrating a composite executor. 52 * 53 * <pre> {@code 54 * class SerialExecutor implements Executor { 55 * final Queue<Runnable> tasks = new ArrayDeque<Runnable>(); 56 * final Executor executor; 57 * Runnable active; 58 * 59 * SerialExecutor(Executor executor) { 60 * this.executor = executor; 61 * } 62 * 63 * public synchronized void execute(final Runnable r) { 64 * tasks.offer(new Runnable() { 65 * public void run() { 66 * try { 67 * r.run(); 68 * } finally { 69 * scheduleNext(); 70 * } 71 * } 72 * }); 73 * if (active == null) { 74 * scheduleNext(); 75 * } 76 * } 77 * 78 * protected synchronized void scheduleNext() { 79 * if ((active = tasks.poll()) != null) { 80 * executor.execute(active); 81 * } 82 * } 83 * }}</pre> 84 * 85 * The <tt>Executor</tt> implementations provided in this package 86 * implement {@link ExecutorService}, which is a more extensive 87 * interface. The {@link ThreadPoolExecutor} class provides an 88 * extensible thread pool implementation. The {@link Executors} class 89 * provides convenient factory methods for these Executors. 90 * 91 * <p>Memory consistency effects: Actions in a thread prior to 92 * submitting a {@code Runnable} object to an {@code Executor} 93 * <a href="package-summary.html#MemoryVisibility"><i>happen-before</i></a> 94 * its execution begins, perhaps in another thread. 95 * 96 * @since 1.5 97 * @author Doug Lea 98 */ 99 public interface Executor { 100 101 /** 102 * Executes the given command at some time in the future. The command 103 * may execute in a new thread, in a pooled thread, or in the calling 104 * thread, at the discretion of the <tt>Executor</tt> implementation. 105 * 106 * @param command the runnable task 107 * @throws RejectedExecutionException if this task cannot be 108 * accepted for execution. 109 * @throws NullPointerException if command is null 110 */ 111 void execute(Runnable command); 112 } 113
