Multithreading is a programming concept that allows multiple threads of execution to run concurrently within a single program.
In Java, a thread is the smallest unit of execution, and multithreading involves the concurrent execution of two or more threads.
Java provides built-in support for multithreading through the Thread class and the Runnable interface.
To create a new thread, you can either extend the Thread class and override its run() method or implement the Runnable interface and provide the implementation for the run() method.
Threads in Java go through different states in their lifecycle, including new, runnable, blocked, waiting, timed waiting, and terminated.
The start() method is used to begin the execution of a thread, and the run() method contains the code that will be executed concurrently.
Multithreading introduces the challenge of shared resources and potential data inconsistency issues. Synchronization is the process of controlling the access of multiple threads to shared resources.
The synchronized keyword in Java is used to create synchronized methods or blocks, ensuring that only one thread can access the synchronized code at a time, preventing data corruption.
Ensuring thread safety is crucial to avoid race conditions and data inconsistencies in multithreaded applications.
Immutable objects, synchronization, and the use of thread-safe classes are some strategies to achieve thread safety in Java.
Java provides a set of concurrency utilities in the java.util.concurrent package to simplify multithreaded programming.
Examples include ExecutorService for managing thread execution, Callable and Future for obtaining results from concurrent tasks, and various thread-safe collections.