Date of registration: Jul 16th 2008
Location: Erlangen, Germany
Occupation: Software Developer
Hobbies: Jabaco, game theory, text-mining
Thursday, August 21st 2008, 10:41pm
Threads and Synchronisation
Using Threads in Jabaco is quite simple. Create a Class and implement the "java#lang#Runnable"-Interface. Create a new Thread-Instance ("java#lang#Thread") and refer your "Runnable"-Class in the Thread-Class Constructor. This Interface implements a "Public Sub run()"-Method, which will be invoked by the Thread-Instance when you call the "start"-Method of your Thread-Class. If you have never heared about Threads that may sounds complicated, but don't worry - have a look to the sample.
For more Informations about Thread-Handling in Java (that is of course similar to Jabaco) have a look to: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/…ang/Thread.html
I'll show you a sample and demonstrate how you can synchronize Threads. We create a Thread that works with a variable and a Thread that observe the same variable. Both threads access the same resource and that could be unwanted. I'll show you how to solve this problem.
At first we create our Threads in the Main-Module:
Our worker will change our shared resource in a loop.
Now we implement an observer.
The result of our test is something like that:
Item: 0
Item: 1
Item: 0
Item: 1
Item: 1
Explication: The Observer/Test-Class asks for the Item while it is used inside the WorkerClass.RefreshItem(). Prevent this by synchronize the access to the Worker-Class.
Simply change the attribute of the methods from:
Public Property Get Item() As Long
Private Sub RefreshItem()
to:
Public Synchronized Property Get Item() As Long
Private Synchronized Sub RefreshItem()
By invoke a "Synchronized"-method the owner-class of this method will be locked for other threads. The other threads will wait for the end of execution. So we could synchronize the access to our resource.
For more Informations about Thread-Handling in Java (that is of course similar to Jabaco) have a look to: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/…ang/Thread.html
I'll show you a sample and demonstrate how you can synchronize Threads. We create a Thread that works with a variable and a Thread that observe the same variable. Both threads access the same resource and that could be unwanted. I'll show you how to solve this problem.
At first we create our Threads in the Main-Module:
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Jabaco Source |
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' Module: Main.jsrc Dim myWorkerClass As New WorkerClass() ' Create the Worker-Class (see below) Dim myWorkerThread As New Thread(myWorkerClass) ' Use the Worker-Class with the Worker-Thread Dim myTestThread As New Thread(New TestClass(myWorkerClass)) Public Sub main(ByJava args() As String) Call myWorkerThread.start() ' This Thread will change our shared resource in a loop Call myTestThread.start() ' ... and this will observe our shared resource End Sub |
Our worker will change our shared resource in a loop.
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Jabaco Source |
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' CLASS: WorkerClass.jsrc Implements java#lang#Runnable ' This Interface is necessary for usage with a Thread-Class Dim myItem As Long ' The shared resource that we will change and observe Public Property Get Item() As Long ' Public access for the shared resource Item = myItem End Property Public Sub run() ' This method is implemented by "Runnable" and will be invoked inside the JavaThread Do While True Call RefreshItem() myCounter = myCounter + 1 Loop End Sub Private Sub RefreshItem() myItem = 0 ' Set var to 0 myItem = 1 ' Set var to 1 myItem = 23 ' Our observer should get 23 from the public item-property End Sub |
Now we implement an observer.
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Jabaco Source |
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' CLASS: TestClass.jsrc Implements java#lang#Runnable Dim myOwner As WorkerClass ' Our worker with shared resource Public Sub TestClass(refOwner As WorkerClass) ' The TestClass-Constructor myOwner = refOwner End Sub Public Sub run() Do While True Call TestItem() ' Check the resource Loop End Sub Public Sub TestItem() If myOwner.Item <> 23 Then ' The Item is produced by WorkerClass.RefreshItem(). It should be 23. out.println "Item: " & myOwner.Item ' If it isn't 23 we would like to know what it is End If End Sub |
The result of our test is something like that:
Item: 0
Item: 1
Item: 0
Item: 1
Item: 1
Explication: The Observer/Test-Class asks for the Item while it is used inside the WorkerClass.RefreshItem(). Prevent this by synchronize the access to the Worker-Class.
Simply change the attribute of the methods from:
Public Property Get Item() As Long
Private Sub RefreshItem()
to:
Public Synchronized Property Get Item() As Long
Private Synchronized Sub RefreshItem()
By invoke a "Synchronized"-method the owner-class of this method will be locked for other threads. The other threads will wait for the end of execution. So we could synchronize the access to our resource.
