Thread state transitions (waiting to blocking)¶

This page covers the mechanics and distinctions involved in thread state transitions, specifically focusing on the contexts of WAITING and BLOCKING states as they relate to Java concurrency utilities.^[600-developer-juc.md]

Overview¶

In Java's threading model, a thread can transition into states often referred to loosely as "waiting" or "blocking." The transition mechanisms and the behavior of threads in these states depend heavily on the synchronization primitives used, specifically Synchronized keywords versus ReentrantLock.^[600-developer-juc.md]

Synchronized vs. ReentrantLock¶

A key distinction in thread state management lies between the use of Synchronized blocks and ReentrantLock.

• Synchronized: Uses implicit monitoring and relies on the Object class's wait(), notify(), and notifyAll() methods for inter-thread communication.^[600-developer-juc.md]
• ReentrantLock: Provides explicit locking and utilizes Condition objects for more flexible thread waiting and signaling.^[600-developer-juc.md]

Related Concepts¶

• [[Java concurrency]]
• [[Thread states]]

Sources¶

^[600-developer-juc.md]