How is this java app running multiple threads without extending threads or implementing runnable?

Question

I'm learning Java and was able to do a bit of multi-threading with my existing apps using runnable. I was now looking at disruptor(to share variables between threads), but I can't figure out how the author is actually spawning threads.

I see he is using Executor, which I use to submit runnable classes to in my program but in this example there is no submit(or runnable). I only learned what I know from the Oracle tutorials and they mention the only two ways is to extend threads or implement runnable(I don't see either here, but he does submit executor to disruptor, which maybe how he's threading?). Am I missing something or is this person doing it in a different way? My end goal is to understand this code(which works perfectly) so I can apply it to my existing (using runnable) code.

Here's the code in question:

App.java

import com.lmax.disruptor.*;
import com.lmax.disruptor.dsl.*;

import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
import java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor;

public class App {

    private final static int RING_SIZE = 1024 * 8;

    private static long handleCount = 0;

    private final static long ITERATIONS = 1000L * 1000L * 300L;
    private final static int NUM_EVENT_PROCESSORS = 8;

    private final static EventHandler<ValueEvent> handler =
        new EventHandler<ValueEvent>() {
        public void onEvent(final ValueEvent event,
                                final long sequence,
                                final boolean endOfBatch) throws Exception {
        handleCount++;
    }
    };

    public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("Starting disruptor app.");

    ExecutorService executor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(NUM_EVENT_PROCESSORS);

    Disruptor<ValueEvent> disruptor =
        new Disruptor<ValueEvent>(ValueEvent.EVENT_FACTORY, executor,
            new SingleThreadedClaimStrategy(RING_SIZE),
            new SleepingWaitStrategy());
    disruptor.handleEventsWith(handler);
    RingBuffer<ValueEvent> ringBuffer = disruptor.start();

    long start = System.currentTimeMillis();

        long sequence;
        ValueEvent event;
    for (long x=0; x<ITERATIONS; x++) {
        sequence = ringBuffer.next();
        event = ringBuffer.get(sequence);
        event.setValue(x);
        ringBuffer.publish(sequence);
        }
    final long expectedSequence = ringBuffer.getCursor();

    while (handleCount < expectedSequence) { }

    long opsPerSecond = (ITERATIONS * 1000L) / (System.currentTimeMillis() - start);
    System.out.printf("op/s: %d, handled: %d", opsPerSecond, handleCount);
    }
}

Update: if Disruptor is handling the spawning of threads then how can I submit my existing runnable class to it? or do I need to rework the code again? Sorry I'm a bit confused on if disruptor is going to work with existing code or if I need to completely change my stuff for it.

Answer 1

As you suspect, the actual dealing with threads (via submitting work items) is done inside Disruptor . So you need to look at its source code (to your luck, it is open source), to find this:

public RingBuffer<T> start()
{
    EventProcessor[] gatingProcessors = eventProcessorRepository.getLastEventProcessorsInChain();
    ringBuffer.setGatingSequences(Util.getSequencesFor(gatingProcessors));

    checkOnlyStartedOnce();
    for (EventProcessorInfo<T> eventProcessorInfo : eventProcessorRepository)
    {
        executor.execute(eventProcessorInfo.getEventProcessor());
    }

    return ringBuffer;
}