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Summary - Java programs are multithreaded, whether you like it or not. This comparative review of six Java thread programming books will help you decide which books are the best read for learning the Java threading library and creating better technical solutions. (2,500 words)
Ever since the first editions of Java Threads from O'Reilly and Concurrent Programming in Java from Addison-Wesley came out several years ago, I've been recommending them to people who want to learn to use threads. With several competing books, and second editions of the originals, now available, I have decided to reassess my recommendations. In this article, I'll look at six of the latest Java thread programming books.
The six books reviewed are:
Java Threads, Second Edition, Scott Oaks and Henry Wong (O'Reilly)
Concurrent Programming in Java, Second Edition, Doug Lea (Addison- Wesley)
Taming Java Threads, Allen Holub (Apress)
Java Thread Programming, Paul Hyde (Sams)
Multithreaded Programming with Java Technology, Bil Lewis and Daniel Berg (Prentice Hall, Sun Press)
High Performance Java Platform Computing: Multithreaded and Networked Programming, Thomas Christopher and George Thiruvathukal (Prentice Hall, Sun Press)
The table below provides a quick review of the six books' main characteristics.
All books are based on the 1.2.x release of the Java 2 platform. Threads Books Overview
| Java Threads Concurrent Programming |
| Taming Java Threads Java Thread |
| Programming <font color="#ff0000" |
| size="2Multithreaded Programming High |
| Performance Java |
| Price $32.95 $39.95 $34.95 |
| $34.99 $39.99 $49.99 |
| Total Pages 320 410 300 |
| 510 460 410 |
| CD-ROM/Source from Web No / Yes No / Yes |
| No / Yes No / Yes No / Yes No / |
| Yes |
| Thread Basics Excellent Fair |
| None Excellent Excellent Fair |
| Techniques Very Good Good Very |
| Good Excellent Good Very Good |
| Design Patterns None Excellent |
| Poor None None Good |
| Scale: None, Poor, Average, Good, Very Good, Excellent |
The table should be fairly self-explanatory up to the CD-ROM attribute. Let me further explain the last few rows:
The Thread Basics attribute indicates the extent to which the books describe what a thread is and how to use it: describing the Thread class and Runnable interface, the Object methods of wait(), notify(), and notifyAll(), and the synchronized keyword.
The Techniques attribute evaluates how well the books explore techniques in using threads.
The Design Patterns attribute measures...