user-space threads

Thu Oct 24 12:14:00 GMT 2002

Adam Megacz writes:
 > 
 > Mark Wielaard <mark@klomp.org> writes:
 > > I believe the java thread model does not guarantee any scheduling system
 > > at all. Not even that threads that block on I/O make other threads run.
 > 
 > Wow, I just checked the JLS, and you're right. This is amazing. It
 > doesn't even require the conventional "scheduler must not starve a
 > runnable thread forever" assumption.
 > 
 > Wow. I consider that a major omission. A lot of people write code
 > that implicitly relies upon that assumption -- for example, a lot of
 > crypto libraries generate randomness by spinning a thread in a while
 > loop and then flipping a boolean to break the thread out of the loop.
I wouldn't rely on a crypto library that did that.
Andrew.