Two-Phase Termination

Origin:

Grand 98

Reason:

To orderly shutdown a thread.

Synopsis:

Set a latch that a thread checks at strategic points of its execution.

Example:

A server that assigns a thread to each client must handle requests to terminate a client's thread or its own execution.

Solution:

The typical run method of a thread should look like

public void run () {
    initialize ();
    while (! isInterrupted ()) {
        ... // whatever execution
    }
    shutdown ();
}

Method isInterrupted tests the interrupted status of a thread. The interrupted status is set when a thread's method interrupt is called and is cleared in various situations.