Question

In a previous SO question it was recommended to me to use callback/event firing instead of polling. Can someone explain this in a little more detail, perhaps with references to online tutorials that show how this can be done for Java based web apps.

Thanks.

Answer 1

The definition of a callback from Wikipedia is:

In computer programming, a callback is
executable code that is passed as an
argument to other code. It allows a
lower-level software layer to call a
subroutine (or function) defined in a
higher-level layer.

In it’s very basic form a callback could be used like this (pseudocode):

void function Foo()
{
   MessageBox.Show("Operation Complete");
}

void function Bar(Method myCallback)
{
  //Perform some operation
  //When completed execute the callback method
  myCallBack().Invoke();
}

static int Main()
{
   Bar(Foo); //Pops a message box when Bar is completed
}

Modern languages like Java and c# have a standardized way of doing this and they call it events. An event is simply a special type of property added to a class that contains a list of Delegates / Method Pointers / Callbacks (all three of these things are the same thing. When the event gets “fired” it simply iterates through it’s list of callbacks and executes them. These are also referred to as listeners.

Here’s an example

public class Button
{
   public event Clicked;

   void override OnMouseUp()
   {
        //User has clicked on the button. Let's notify anyone listening to this event.
       Clicked(); //Iterates through all the callbacks in it's list and calls Invoke();
   }
}

public class MyForm
{
   private _Button;

   public Constructor()
   {
       _Button = new Button();

      //Different languages provide different ways of registering listeners to events.
      // _Button.Clicked += Button_Clicked_Handler;
      // _Button.Clicked.AddListener(Button_Clicked_Handler); 
   }

   public void Button_Clicked_Handler()
   {
       MessageBox.Show("Button Was Clicked");
   }
}

In this example the Button class has an event called Clicked. It allows anyone who wants to be notified when is clicked to register a callback method. In this case the “Button_Clicked_Handler” method would be executed by Clicked event.

Eventing/Callback architecture is very handy whenever you need to be notified that something has occurred elsewhere in the program and you have no direct knowledge of when or how this happens.

This greatly simplifies notification. Polling makes it much more difficult because you are responsible for checking every so often whether or not an operation has completed. A simple polling mechanism would be like this:

static void CheckIfDone()
{
    while(!Button.IsClicked)
    {
       //Sleep
    }

    //Button has been clicked.
}

The problem is that this particular situation would block your existing thread and have to continue checking until Button.IsClicked is true. The nice thing about eventing architecture is that it is asynchronous and let’s the Acting Item (button) notify the listener when it is completed instead of the listener having to keep checking,