IExecutor.java

/******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 2010, 2013 EclipseSource and others. All rights reserved. This
 * program and the accompanying materials are made available under the terms of
 * the Eclipse Public License v1.0 which accompanies this distribution, and is
 * available at http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
 *
 * Contributors:
 *   EclipseSource - initial API and implementation
 *   Gunnar Wagenknecht - added support for generics
 ******************************************************************************/
package org.eclipse.equinox.concurrent.future;

import org.eclipse.core.runtime.IProgressMonitor;

/**
 * <p>
 * Contract for the actual execution of {@link IProgressRunnable}s. Instances of
 * this interface must be able to provide resources to eventually execute a
 * given {@link IProgressRunnable}, upon calling
 * {@link #execute(IProgressRunnable, IProgressMonitor)}.
 * </p>
 * <p>
 * Note that implementations may decide what/how to execute the given
 * IProgressRunnable (i.e. via a {@link Thread}, or a Job, or a ThreadPool or
 * some other invocation mechanism. But the intended contract of
 * {@link #execute(IProgressRunnable, IProgressMonitor)} is that the
 * {@link IProgressRunnable#run(IProgressMonitor)} method will be invoked by
 * this executor in a timely manner <b>without</b> blocking.
 * </p>
 * 
 * @see IProgressRunnable
 * @see IFuture
 * @see #execute(IProgressRunnable, IProgressMonitor)
 * @since 1.1
 */
public interface IExecutor {

	/**
	 * <p>
	 * Execute the given {@link IProgressRunnable} (i.e. call
	 * {@link IProgressRunnable#run(IProgressMonitor)}. Will return a non-
	 * <code>null</code> instance of {@link IFuture} that allows clients to
	 * inspect the state of the execution and retrieve any results via
	 * {@link IFuture#get()} or {@link IFuture#get(long)}.
	 * </p>
	 * <p>
	 * Note that implementers may decide whether to invoke
	 * {@link IProgressRunnable#run(IProgressMonitor)} asynchronously or
	 * synchronously, but since IProgressRunnables are frequently going to be
	 * longer-running operations, implementers should proceed carefully before
	 * implementing with synchronous (blocking) invocation. Implementers should
	 * typically implement via some non-blocking asynchronous invocation
	 * mechanism, e.g. Threads, Jobs, ThreadPools etc.
	 * </p>
	 * 
	 * @param runnable
	 *            the {@link IProgressRunnable} to invoke. Must not be
	 *            <code>null</code>.
	 * @param monitor
	 *            any {@link IProgressMonitor} to be passed to the runnable. May
	 *            be <code>null</code>.
	 * @return {@link IFuture} to allow for inspection of the state of the
	 *         computation by clients, as well as access to any return values of
	 *         {@link IProgressRunnable#run(IProgressMonitor)}. Will not be
	 *         <code>null</code>.
	 * @param <ResultType>
	 *            the type that will be returned by the
	 *            {@link IProgressRunnable} as well as the returned
	 *            {@link IFuture}
	 */
	<ResultType> IFuture<ResultType> execute(
			IProgressRunnable<? extends ResultType> runnable,
			IProgressMonitor monitor);

}