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Concurrency in Java

4/12/20223 min read

Concurrency in Java

Java provides rich APIs for handling multithreading and concurrent programming. These allow programs to make better use of system resources and handle multiple tasks simultaneously.

⚠️ Concurrency is powerful but hard to get right — race conditions and deadlocks can ruin your day!

Creating Threads

java
public class MyThread extends Thread {
    public void run() {
        System.out.println("Running in thread: " + Thread.currentThread().getName());
    }
}
java
Thread t = new MyThread();
t.start();

Using Runnable

java
Runnable task = () -> System.out.println("Runnable Task");
new Thread(task).start();

Thread Lifecycle

  1. New
  2. Runnable
  3. Running
  4. Blocked/Waiting
  5. Terminated

Synchronization

java
public synchronized void increment() {
    count++;
}

Locks and Executors

java
Lock lock = new ReentrantLock();
lock.lock();
try {
    // critical section
} finally {
    lock.unlock();
}
java
ExecutorService executor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(2);
executor.submit(() -> doWork());
executor.shutdown();

Common Pitfalls

  • Race Conditions
  • Deadlocks
  • Starvation

❗ Always consider thread safety when working with shared resources.

Summary

Java offers both high-level and low-level concurrency APIs. Learn to use them effectively to build performant, responsive apps.

🔍 “Concurrency is not parallelism.” – Rob Pike

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