Question about 'main thread' and the thread it creates
Hi guys,
I've read a tutorial about the Java threads. Here is an example given below.
My question is when the main thread creates a new thread t, and what is the status of the main thread during thread t is active?
My understanding is:
Main thread (active) -> create t (active) -> main thread (sleep) -> Interrupt t -> main (active).
So when t is active, main thread is sleep. Because it uses t.join(1000), and main thread will only sleep for only one second. Is that correct?
Except this one second sleep, will both the main thread and t thread be active?
Thanks a lot!!!!
Code:
public class SimpleThreads {
//Display a message, preceded by the name of the current thread
static void threadMessage(String message) {
String threadName = Thread.currentThread().getName();
System.out.format("%s: %s%n", threadName, message);
}
private static class MessageLoop implements Runnable {
public void run() {
String importantInfo[] = {
"Mares eat oats",
"Does eat oats",
"Little lambs eat ivy",
"A kid will eat ivy too"
};
try {
for (int i = 0; i < importantInfo.length; i++) {
//Pause for 4 seconds
Thread.sleep(4000);
//Print a message
threadMessage(importantInfo[i]);
}
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
threadMessage("I wasn't done!");
}
}
}
public static void main(String args[]) throws InterruptedException {
//Delay, in milliseconds before we interrupt MessageLoop
//thread (default one hour).
long patience = 1000 * 60 * 60;
//If command line argument present, gives patience in seconds.
if (args.length > 0) {
try {
patience = Long.parseLong(args[0]) * 1000;
} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
System.err.println("Argument must be an integer.");
System.exit(1);
}
}
threadMessage("Starting MessageLoop thread");
long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
Thread t = new Thread(new MessageLoop());
t.start();
threadMessage("Waiting for MessageLoop thread to finish");
//loop until MessageLoop thread exits
while (t.isAlive()) {
threadMessage("Still waiting...");
//Wait maximum of 1 second for MessageLoop thread to
//finish.
t.join(1000);
if (((System.currentTimeMillis() - startTime) > patience) &&
t.isAlive()) {
threadMessage("Tired of waiting!");
t.interrupt();
//Shouldn't be long now -- wait indefinitely
t.join();
}
}
threadMessage("Finally!");
}
}
