Concurrent Programming with J2SE 5.0

Java is a multithreaded programming language that makes programming with threads easier, by providing built-in language support for threads. The built-in primitives however, such as synchronized blocks, Object.wait(), and Object.notify() are insufficient for many programming tasks. This leads developers to implement their own high-level synchronization facilities, but given the difficulty of concurrency issues, their implementations may not be correct, efficient, or high quality.

The Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition release 5.0 (J2SE 5.0), which is also known as Tiger, has provided a new path to multithreading in the Java programming language. The original mechanisms for coordinating threads with wait() and notify() are now enhanced with new and sophisticated mechanisms for working with threads. The new mechanisms are part of the java.util.concurrent package, which aims to offer a standard set of concurrency utilities that will ease the task of developing multithreaded applications and servers. In addition, such standards will improve the quality of such applications. The package has been defined through the Java Community Process as JSR 166: Concurrency Utilities.

This article provides an overview and an introductory tutorial to the new concurrency mechanisms that have been added to J2SE 5.0. It helps developers get started using the new java.util.concurrent package and its subpackages.