Executor.java

/*
 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
 *
 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this
 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
 * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
 *
 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
 * accompanied this code).
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
 *
 * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
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/*
 * This file is available under and governed by the GNU General Public
 * License version 2 only, as published by the Free Software Foundation.
 * However, the following notice accompanied the original version of this
 * file:
 *
 * Written by Doug Lea with assistance from members of JCP JSR-166
 * Expert Group and released to the public domain, as explained at
 * http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
 */

package java.util.concurrent;

/**
 * An object that executes submitted {@link Runnable} tasks. This
 * interface provides a way of decoupling task submission from the
 * mechanics of how each task will be run, including details of thread
 * use, scheduling, etc.  An {@code Executor} is normally used
 * instead of explicitly creating threads. For example, rather than
 * invoking {@code new Thread(new RunnableTask()).start()} for each
 * of a set of tasks, you might use:
 *
 * <pre> {@code
 * Executor executor = anExecutor();
 * executor.execute(new RunnableTask1());
 * executor.execute(new RunnableTask2());
 * ...}</pre>
 *
 * However, the {@code Executor} interface does not strictly require
 * that execution be asynchronous. In the simplest case, an executor
 * can run the submitted task immediately in the caller's thread:
 *
 * <pre> {@code
 * class DirectExecutor implements Executor {
 *   public void execute(Runnable r) {
 *     r.run();
 *   }
 * }}</pre>
 *
 * More typically, tasks are executed in some thread other than the
 * caller's thread.  The executor below spawns a new thread for each
 * task.
 *
 * <pre> {@code
 * class ThreadPerTaskExecutor implements Executor {
 *   public void execute(Runnable r) {
 *     new Thread(r).start();
 *   }
 * }}</pre>
 *
 * Many {@code Executor} implementations impose some sort of
 * limitation on how and when tasks are scheduled.  The executor below
 * serializes the submission of tasks to a second executor,
 * illustrating a composite executor.
 *
 * <pre> {@code
 * class SerialExecutor implements Executor {
 *   final Queue<Runnable> tasks = new ArrayDeque<>();
 *   final Executor executor;
 *   Runnable active;
 *
 *   SerialExecutor(Executor executor) {
 *     this.executor = executor;
 *   }
 *
 *   public synchronized void execute(Runnable r) {
 *     tasks.add(() -> {
 *       try {
 *         r.run();
 *       } finally {
 *         scheduleNext();
 *       }
 *     });
 *     if (active == null) {
 *       scheduleNext();
 *     }
 *   }
 *
 *   protected synchronized void scheduleNext() {
 *     if ((active = tasks.poll()) != null) {
 *       executor.execute(active);
 *     }
 *   }
 * }}</pre>
 *
 * The {@code Executor} implementations provided in this package
 * implement {@link ExecutorService}, which is a more extensive
 * interface.  The {@link ThreadPoolExecutor} class provides an
 * extensible thread pool implementation. The {@link Executors} class
 * provides convenient factory methods for these Executors.
 *
 * <p>Memory consistency effects: Actions in a thread prior to
 * submitting a {@code Runnable} object to an {@code Executor}
 * <a href="package-summary.html#MemoryVisibility"><i>happen-before</i></a>
 * its execution begins, perhaps in another thread.
 *
 * @since 1.5
 * @author Doug Lea
 */
public interface Executor {

    /**
     * Executes the given command at some time in the future.  The command
     * may execute in a new thread, in a pooled thread, or in the calling
     * thread, at the discretion of the {@code Executor} implementation.
     *
     * @param command the runnable task
     * @throws RejectedExecutionException if this task cannot be
     * accepted for execution
     * @throws NullPointerException if command is null
     */
    void execute(Runnable command);
}