Java Language Using ThreadPoolExecutor in MultiThreaded applications. Performing Asynchronous Tasks Where No Return Value Is Needed Using a Runnable Class Instance
Example
Some applications may want to create so-called "Fire & Forget" tasks which can be periodically triggered and do not need to return any type of value returned upon completion of the assigned task (for example, purging old temp files, rotating logs, autosaving state).
In this example, we will create two classes: One which implements the Runnable interface, and one which contains a main() method.
AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter.java
import lombok.extern.java.Log;
import java.util.concurrent.ThreadLocalRandom;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
@Log
public class AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter implements Runnable {
private int taskNumber;
public AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter(int taskNumber) {
this.taskNumber = taskNumber;
}
public void run() {
int timeout = ThreadLocalRandom.current().nextInt(1, 20);
try {
log.info(String.format("Task %d is sleeping for %d seconds", taskNumber, timeout));
TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(timeout);
log.info(String.format("Task %d is done sleeping", taskNumber));
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
log.warning(e.getMessage());
}
}
}
AsyncExample1
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
public class AsyncExample1 {
public static void main(String[] args){
ExecutorService executorService = Executors.newCachedThreadPool();
for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++){
executorService.execute(new AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter(i));
}
executorService.shutdown();
}
}
Running AsyncExample1.main() resulted in the following output:
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:03 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 8 is sleeping for 18 seconds
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:03 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 6 is sleeping for 4 seconds
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:03 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 2 is sleeping for 6 seconds
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:03 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 3 is sleeping for 4 seconds
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:03 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 9 is sleeping for 14 seconds
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:03 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 4 is sleeping for 9 seconds
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:03 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 5 is sleeping for 10 seconds
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:03 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 0 is sleeping for 7 seconds
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:03 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 1 is sleeping for 9 seconds
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:03 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 7 is sleeping for 8 seconds
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:07 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 6 is done sleeping
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:07 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 3 is done sleeping
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:09 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 2 is done sleeping
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:10 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 0 is done sleeping
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:11 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 7 is done sleeping
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:12 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 4 is done sleeping
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:12 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 1 is done sleeping
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:13 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 5 is done sleeping
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:17 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 9 is done sleeping
Dec 28, 2016 2:21:21 PM AsyncMaintenanceTaskCompleter run
INFO: Task 8 is done sleeping
Process finished with exit code 0
Observations of Note: There are several things to note in the output above,
- The tasks did not execute in a predictable order.
- Since each task was sleeping for a (pseudo)random amount of time, they did not necessarily complete in the order in which they were invoked.
