The Busy Java Developer's Guide to Concurrency (Part 2: Concurrency)
Java's threading capabilities have been a part of the Java platform since its inception, yet for many Java developers, using Threads still remain a dark and mysterious art, and synchronization beyond the use of the “synchronized” keyword is almost unknown.
In this talk, we'll explore the Java “monitor” concept, and how a monitor isn't quite the same thing as a lock from other concurrency systems. We'll see how monitors can be used to perform signalling across threads, and then how the new java.util.concurrent API (introduced in Java 5) can be used to simplify the same sorts of tasks that used to require deep knowledge of the synchronized keyword. Finally, we'll answer that age-old question, “Why did the multithreaded chicken cross the road?”