Executors by Fizzed

Fizzed, Inc. (Follow on Twitter: @fizzed_inc)

Executors by Fizzed helps you build, manage, and operate long-lived workers (threads) on the JVM.

Java's standard ExecutorService and its various implementations (correctly) hide where and how your Runnable is executing. They are designed to abstract the run() method.

However, when building long-lived tasks, where some parts of your code are critical to not be interrupted (e.g. during a graceful shutdown). That's where the lack of context within your run() of how you're executing becomes a problem. This usually consists of waiting for work and being able to prevent shutdown until that work is completed.

This framework is a simple layer built on top of the ExecutorService to give your Workers the context and building blocks for rock-solid long-lived tasks.

Pattern 1: poll and accept next job (e.g. Blocking Queue)

while (!stopped) {
    job = pollAndAcceptNextJob()   // <-- critical start

if (job) {
        // handle job
}			       // <-- critical end

    sleep(2 seconds)               // <-- interrupt ok
}

Pattern 2: poll then accept next job (e.g. JMS w/ manual ack)

while (!stopped) {
    job = pollNextJob()            // <-- interrupt ok

    if (job) {
    // accept job (ack it)     // <-- critical start
        // handle job
    }                              // <-- critical end

    sleep(2 seconds)               // <-- interrupt ok
}