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Now that you've seen how to give a thread something to do, we'll review some details that were glossed over in the previous section. In particular, we look at the life cycle of a thread: how to create and start a thread, some of the special things it can do while it's running, and how to stop it.The following diagram shows the states that a Java thread can be in during its life. It also illustrates which method calls cause a transition to another state. This figure is not a complete finite state diagram, but rather an overview of the more interesting and common facets of a thread's life. The remainder of this section uses the
Clock
applet previously introduced to discuss a thread's life cycle in terms of its state.
The application in which an applet is running calls the applet'sstart
method when the user visits the applet's page. TheClock
applet creates aThread
,clockThread
, in itsstart
with the bold code shown here:After the bold statement has been executed,public void start() { if (clockThread == null) { clockThread = new Thread(this, "Clock"); clockThread.start(); } }clockThread
is in the New Thread state. When a thread is a New Thread, it is merely an emptyThread
object; no system resources have been allocated for it yet. When a thread is in this state, you can only start the thread. Calling any method besides start when a thread is in this state makes no sense and causes anIllegalThreadStateException
. (In fact, the runtime system throws anIllegalThreadStateException
any time a method is called on a thread and that thread's state does not allow for that method call.)Notice that this--the
Clock
instance-- is the first argument to the thread constructor. The first argument to this thread constructor must implement theRunnable
interface and provides the thread with itsrun
method. The second argument is just a name for the thread.
Now consider the next line of code inClock
'sstart
method shown here in bold:Thepublic void start() { if (clockThread == null) { clockThread = new Thread(this, "Clock"); clockThread.start(); } }start
method creates the system resources necessary to run the thread, schedules the thread to run, and calls the thread'srun
method.ClockThread'
srun
method is the one defined in theClock
class.After the
start
method has returned, the thread is "running". Yet, it's somewhat more complex than that. As the previous figure shows, a thread that has been started is actually in the Runnable state. Many computers have a single processor, thus making it impossible to run all "running" threads at the same time. The Java runtime system must implement a scheduling scheme that shares the processor between all "running" threads. (See Understanding Thread Priority for more information about scheduling.) So at any given time, a "running" thread actually may be waiting for its turn in the CPU.Here's another look at
Clock
'srun
method:public void run() { Thread myThread = Thread.currentThread(); while (clockThread == myThread) { repaint(); try { Thread.sleep(1000); } catch (InterruptedException e){ // the VM doesn't want us to sleep anymore, // so get back to work } } }Clock
'srun
method loops while the conditionclockThread == myThread
istrue
. This exit condition is explained in more detail in Stopping a Thread. However, for now, know that it allows the thread, and thus the applet, to exit gracefully.Within the loop, the applet repaints itself and then tells the thread to sleep for one second (1000 milliseconds). An applet's
repaint
method ultimately calls the applet'spaint
method, which does the actual update of the applet's display area. TheClock
paint
method gets the current time, formats, and displays it:public void paint(Graphics g) { // get the time and convert it to a date Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance(); Date date = cal.getTime(); // format it and display it DateFormat dateFormatter = DateFormat.getTimeInstance(); g.drawString(dateFormatter.format(date), 5, 10); }
A thread becomes Not Runnable when one of these events occurs:The
- Its
sleep
method is invoked.- The thread calls the
wait
method to wait for a specific condition to be satisifed.- The thread is blocking on I/O.
clockThread
in theClock
applet becomes Not Runnable when the run method callssleep
on the current thread:During the second that thepublic void run() { Thread myThread = Thread.currentThread(); while (clockThread == myThread) { repaint(); try { Thread.sleep(1000); } catch (InterruptedException e){ // the VM doesn't want us to sleep anymore, // so get back to work } } }clockThread
is asleep, the thread does not run, even if the processor becomes available. After the second has elapsed, the thread becomes Runnable again and, if the processor becomes available, the thread begins running again.For each entrance into the Not Runnable state, there is a specific and distinct escape route that returns the thread to the Runnable state. An escape route works only for its corresponding entrance. For example, if a thread has been put to sleep, then the specified number of milliseconds must elapse before the thread becomes Runnable again. The following list describes the escape route for every entrance into the Not Runnable state:
- If a thread has been put to sleep, then the specified number of milliseconds must elapse.
- If a thread is waiting for a condition, then another object must notify the waiting thread of a change in condition by calling
notify
ornotifyAll
. More information is available in Synchronizing Threads.- If a thread is blocked on I/O, then the I/O must complete.
A program doesn't stop a thread like it stops an applet (by calling a method). Rather, a thread arranges for its own death by having arun
method that terminates naturally. For example, thewhile
loop in thisrun
method is a finite loop-- it will iterate 100 times and then exit:A thread with thispublic void run() { int i = 0; while (i < 100) { i++; System.out.println("i = " + i); } }run
method dies naturally when the loop completes and therun
method exits.Let's look at how the
Clock
applet thread arranges for its own death. You might want to use this technique with your applets. RecallClock
'srun
method:The exit condition for thispublic void run() { Thread myThread = Thread.currentThread(); while (clockThread == myThread) { repaint(); try { Thread.sleep(1000); } catch (InterruptedException e){ // the VM doesn't want us to sleep anymore, // so get back to work } } }run
method is the exit condition for thewhile
loop because there is no code after thewhile
loop:This condition indicates that the loop will exit when the currently exiting thread is not equal towhile (clockThread == myThread) {clockThread
. When would this ever be the case?When you leave the page, the application in which the applet is running calls the applet's
stop
method. This method then sets theclockThread
tonull
, thereby telling the main loop in therun
method to terminate:If you revisit the page, thepublic void stop() { // applets' stop method clockThread = null; }start
method is called again and the clock starts up again with a new thread. Even if you stop and start the applet faster than one iteration of the loop,clockThread
will be a different thread thanmyThread
and the loop will still terminate.
A final word about thread state: The API for theThread
class includes a method calledisAlive
. TheisAlive
method returns true if the thread has been started and not stopped. If theisAlive
method returns false, you know that the thread either is a New Thread or is Dead. If theisAlive
method returns true, you know that the thread is either Runnable or Not Runnable. You cannot differentiate between a New Thread or a Dead thread. Nor can you differentiate between a Runnable thread and a Not Runnable thread.
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