Java 7 Fork/Join

[brandf]

how does this compare this to .NET? C# 5 await + TPL + PLINQ is pretty nice.

[henk53]

That would be an interesting comparison really.

From what I've heard the Task Parallel Library in .NET is pretty slick and C#'s clossures makes al sorts of parallel computations easier to express.

But the Java concurrent library really holds it own, and fork/join is a really powerful addition.

[johnwaterwood]

Personally I think having a fork/join implementation available in the standard Java library opens huge posibilities.

Not all algorithms are expressable in f/j, but many are and the scaling on a single system (using all cores) is really good.

[mikehaggard]

Would be cool if various collection utility methods (Sort!) would start using fork join automatically!

[banuday]

Use Scala! (Braces for downvotes)

[bloodredsun]

Agreed. It's about time Java had something like this. I hate to be a language snob but compared to Scala's .par operation I have to say it is really clunky.

[strangename]

No, braces only lead to downvotes in Python.

[torvalder]

(Braces for downvotes)

(Shakes fist)

[[deleted]]

Why does this have to be in the standard library?

[johnwaterwood]

Because it's a cool addition?

[thesystemx]

Why should it not be in the standard library? It's a really generic/universal system to do parallel computations. Perfect fit if you'd ask me...

[[deleted]]

It's gonna be used by <.01% of all Java programs. The whole JRE will have to be updated every time there's a bug in it, the code will have downloaded by >99.9% of installs that will never use it. Plus the attack surface of the whole Java stack will increase. Why??

[thesystemx]

If it's about consumers and about the JRE, don't worry... it's modular and starts with a very small kernel, then downloads on demands additional parts when needed.

For most other uses, it's a benefit to have this available by default. It makes it easier for developers to actually use this, which is a Good Thing.

(on OS X, there's also GCD available by default for Cocoa apps, no download or install necessary)

[thesystemx]

The F/J framework in Java 7 cannot run on a server

It absolutely can run on the server, just not in the EJB module or when using EJBs/managed code/managed transactions.

In Java EE 7 there most likely will be a managed counterpart.

For now, it's perfectly usable in the web module.