/*
 * ORACLE PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
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/*
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 * Written by Doug Lea with assistance from members of JCP JSR-166
 * Expert Group and released to the public domain, as explained at
 * http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
 */

package java.util.concurrent;

/**
 * An object that executes submitted {@link Runnable} tasks. This
 * interface provides a way of decoupling task submission from the
 * mechanics of how each task will be run, including details of thread
 * use, scheduling, etc. An {@code Executor} is normally used
 * instead of explicitly creating threads. For example, rather than
 * invoking {@code new Thread(new RunnableTask()).start()} for each
 * of a set of tasks, you might use:
 *
 * <pre> {@code
 * Executor executor = anExecutor();
 * executor.execute(new RunnableTask1());
 * executor.execute(new RunnableTask2());
 * ...}</pre>
 *
 * However, the {@code Executor} interface does not strictly require
 * that execution be asynchronous. In the simplest case, an executor
 * can run the submitted task immediately in the caller's thread:
 *
 * <pre> {@code
 * class DirectExecutor implements Executor {
 * public void execute(Runnable r) {
 * r.run();
 * }
 * }}</pre>
 *
 * More typically, tasks are executed in some thread other than the
 * caller's thread. The executor below spawns a new thread for each
 * task.
 *
 * <pre> {@code
 * class ThreadPerTaskExecutor implements Executor {
 * public void execute(Runnable r) {
 * new Thread(r).start();
 * }
 * }}</pre>
 *
 * Many {@code Executor} implementations impose some sort of
 * limitation on how and when tasks are scheduled. The executor below
 * serializes the submission of tasks to a second executor,
 * illustrating a composite executor.
 *
 * <pre> {@code
 * class SerialExecutor implements Executor {
 * final Queue<Runnable> tasks = new ArrayDeque<>();
 * final Executor executor;
 * Runnable active;
 *
 * SerialExecutor(Executor executor) {
 * this.executor = executor;
 * }
 *
 * public synchronized void execute(Runnable r) {
 * tasks.add(() -> {
 * try {
 * r.run();
 * } finally {
 * scheduleNext();
 * }
 * });
 * if (active == null) {
 * scheduleNext();
 * }
 * }
 *
 * protected synchronized void scheduleNext() {
 * if ((active = tasks.poll()) != null) {
 * executor.execute(active);
 * }
 * }
 * }}</pre>
 *
 * The {@code Executor} implementations provided in this package
 * implement {@link ExecutorService}, which is a more extensive
 * interface. The {@link ThreadPoolExecutor} class provides an
 * extensible thread pool implementation. The {@link Executors} class
 * provides convenient factory methods for these Executors.
 *
 * <p>Memory consistency effects: Actions in a thread prior to
 * submitting a {@code Runnable} object to an {@code Executor}
 * <a href="package-summary.html#MemoryVisibility"><i>happen-before</i></a>
 * its execution begins, perhaps in another thread.
 *
 * @since 1.5
 * @author Doug Lea
 */
public interface Executor {

 /**
 * Executes the given command at some time in the future. The command
 * may execute in a new thread, in a pooled thread, or in the calling
 * thread, at the discretion of the {@code Executor} implementation.
 *
 * @param command the runnable task
 * @throws RejectedExecutionException if this task cannot be
 * accepted for execution
 * @throws NullPointerException if command is null
 */
 void execute(Runnable command);
}