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 * Copyright (c) 1995, 2008, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 *
 * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
 * are met:
 *
 *   - Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
 *     notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
 *
 *   - Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
 *     notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
 *     documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
 *
 *   - Neither the name of Oracle or the names of its
 *     contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
 *     from this software without specific prior written permission.
 *
 * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS
 * IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
 * THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
 * PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR
 * CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
 * EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
 * PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
 * PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
 * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING
 * NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
 * SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 */ 

public class SimpleThreads {

    // Display a message, preceded by
    // the name of the current thread
    static void threadMessage(String message) {
        String threadName =
            Thread.currentThread().getName();
        System.out.format("%s: %s%n",
                          threadName,
                          message);
    }

    private static class MessageLoop
        implements Runnable {
        public void run() {
            String importantInfo[] = {
                "Mares eat oats",
                "Does eat oats",
                "Little lambs eat ivy",
                "A kid will eat ivy too"
            };
            try {
                for (int i = 0;
                     i < importantInfo.length;
                     i++) {
                    // Pause for 4 seconds
                    Thread.sleep(4000);
                    // Print a message
                    threadMessage(importantInfo[i]);
                }
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                threadMessage("I wasn't done!");
            }
        }
    }

    public static void main(String args[])
        throws InterruptedException {

        // Delay, in milliseconds before
        // we interrupt MessageLoop
        // thread (default one hour).
        long patience = 1000 * 60 * 60;

        // If command line argument
        // present, gives patience
        // in seconds.
        if (args.length > 0) {
            try {
                patience = Long.parseLong(args[0]) * 1000;
            } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                System.err.println("Argument must be an integer.");
                System.exit(1);
            }
        }

        threadMessage("Starting MessageLoop thread");
        long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
        Thread t = new Thread(new MessageLoop());
        t.start();

        threadMessage("Waiting for MessageLoop thread to finish");
        // loop until MessageLoop
        // thread exits
        while (t.isAlive()) {
            threadMessage("Still waiting...");
            // Wait maximum of 1 second
            // for MessageLoop thread
            // to finish.
            t.join(1000);
            if (((System.currentTimeMillis() - startTime) > patience)
                  && t.isAlive()) {
                threadMessage("Tired of waiting!");
                t.interrupt();
                // Shouldn't be long now
                // -- wait indefinitely
                t.join();
            }
        }
        threadMessage("Finally!");
    }
}

Results

C:\ece538\java_thread>java SimpleThreads
main: Starting MessageLoop thread
main: Waiting for MessageLoop thread to finish
main: Still waiting...
main: Still waiting...
main: Still waiting...
main: Still waiting...
Thread-0: Mares eat oats
main: Still waiting...
main: Still waiting...
main: Still waiting...
main: Still waiting...
Thread-0: Does eat oats
main: Still waiting...
main: Still waiting...
main: Still waiting...
main: Still waiting...
Thread-0: Little lambs eat ivy
main: Still waiting...
main: Still waiting...
main: Still waiting...
main: Still waiting...
Thread-0: A kid will eat ivy too
main: Finally!