Java Thread Ping Pong example

Question

I\'m trying to understand thread basics, and as a first example I create two thread that write a String on the stdout. As I know the scheduler allows to execute the threads

Answer 1

Here is a Ping Pong program written in Java. Ping and Pong are separate threads. Each thread is both a consumer and a producer. When each thread runs it does two things

1. Produce a message that allows the other (as a consumer) to run
2. Consume a message that causes itself to suspend.

The code is based upon Oracles ProducerConsumerExample. Note that the Ping and Pong classes are almost identical in their code and in their behaviour. The threads in the OP’s code only uses the ‘mutual exclusion’ part of the objects monitor (as Brian Agnew suggested above). They never invoke a wait. Hence they only exclude one another, but never invoke the java run time to allow the other thread to run.

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 * based on oracle example on sync-wait-notify
 * cf. https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/concurrency/guardmeth.html
 * run with java ProducerConsumerExample
 * 
 *
 */ 

public class ProducerConsumerExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Drop drop = new Drop();
    DropCtoP dropCtoP = new DropCtoP();
    (new Thread(new Ping(drop,dropCtoP))).start();
        (new Thread(new Pong(drop,dropCtoP))).start();
    }
}


public class Pong implements Runnable {
    private Drop drop;
    private DropCtoP dropCtoP;
    private int count=0;

    public Pong(Drop drop,DropCtoP dropCtoP) {
        this.drop = drop;
        this.dropCtoP = dropCtoP;
    }

    public void run() {
        String message;
        for (;;) {
        count++;
            message = drop.take();
            System.out.format("Pong running - : %s - ran num times %d %n", message,count);
            dropCtoP.put("Run ping token");
        }
    }
}



public class Ping implements Runnable {
    private Drop drop;
    private DropCtoP dropCtoP;
    private int count=0;

    public Ping(Drop drop,DropCtoP dropCtoP) {
        this.drop = drop;
        this.dropCtoP = dropCtoP;
    }

    public void run() {

        String message;
        for (;;) {
      count++;
      drop.put("Run pong token");
      message = dropCtoP.take();
      System.out.format("PING running - : %s- ran num times %d %n", message,count);
        }

    }
}



public class DropCtoP {
    // Message sent from producer
    // to consumer.
    private String message;
    // True if consumer should wait
    // for producer to send message,
    // false if producer should wait for
    // consumer to retrieve message.
    private boolean empty2 = true;


    public synchronized String take() {
        // Wait until message is
        // available.
        while (empty2) {
            try {
                wait();
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {}
        }
        // Toggle status.
        empty2 = true;
        // Notify producer that
        // status has changed.
        notifyAll();
        return message;
    }

    public synchronized void put(String message) {
        // Wait until message has
        // been retrieved.
        while (!empty2) {
            try { 
                wait();
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {}
        }
        // Toggle status.
        empty2 = false;
        // Store message.
        this.message = message;
        // Notify consumer that status
        // has changed.
        notifyAll();
    }    
}


public class Drop {
    // Message sent from producer
    // to consumer.
    private String message;
    // True if consumer should wait
    // for producer to send message,
    // false if producer should wait for
    // consumer to retrieve message.
    private boolean empty = true;

    public synchronized String take() {
        // Wait until message is
        // available.
        while (empty) {
            try {
                wait();
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {}
        }
        // Toggle status.
        empty = true;
        // Notify producer that
        // status has changed.
        notifyAll();
        return message;
    }

    public synchronized void put(String message) {
        // Wait until message has
        // been retrieved.
        while (!empty) {
            try { 
                wait();
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {}
        }
        // Toggle status.
        empty = false;
        // Store message.
        this.message = message;
        // Notify consumer that status
        // has changed.
        notifyAll();
    }


}