Question

I have a long running task, something like:

public void myCancellableTask() {
    while ( someCondition ) {
       checkIfCancelRequested();
       doSomeWork();
    }
 }

The task can be cancelled (a cancel is requested and checkIfCancelRequested() checks the cancel flag). Generally when I write cancellable loops like this, I use a flag to indicate that a cancel has been requested. But, I know I could also use Thread.interrupt and check if the thread has been interrupted. I’m not sure which would be the preferred approach and why, thoughts?

thanks,

Jeff

Answer 1

Interrupt will blast the thread out of a list of specified wait conditions. Your own cancel flag will not. If you want to interrupt waits on IO and events, use interrupt. Otherwise use your own.