Multithreaded Programming with JAVA™ Technology

Chapter 3. Foundations

• Implementation vs. Specification

• Thread Libraries

• The Process Structure

• Lightweight Processes

• The POSIX Multithreaded Model

• System Calls

• Signals

In which we introduce the reader to the underlying structures upon which threads are built, the construction of the thread itself, and the operating system support that allows efficient implementation.

Implementation vs. Specification

When writing a book of this nature, the authors are often faced with a difficult decision: How much should they restrict themselves to the pure specifications, and how much in the way of implementation should they allow to show through? By talking only about the specifications, the reader is given a pure rendition of what the library should do and is not misled ...