‘From Bugs to Brilliance: Mastering java.util.concurrent’ Webinar

This October, we hosted another insightful session in our performance engineering series: “From Bugs to Brilliance: Mastering java.util.concurrent.”

The webinar brought together Java developers, performance engineers, and concurrency enthusiasts from across the globe to explore one of the most challenging aspects of Java programming — writing thread-safe, concurrent code.

Our expert speaker, Dr. Heinz Kabutz, shared decades of experience and practical lessons on how to navigate the pitfalls of concurrency, drawing on real-world bugs in core Java classes that persisted for years. Attendees gained hands-on insights into designing scalable, efficient, and safe concurrent applications using the java.util.concurrent package.

What the Webinar Covered

Concurrency in Java is notoriously difficult because bugs often hide for years, only surfacing under rare conditions. Even long-trusted classes like Vector have been affected, with race conditions and deadlocks lasting several years.

In this session, we explored:

• Why writing thread-safe code is so challenging and how subtle concurrency bugs emerge
• Lessons from real-world issues in Java’s core classes
• Design techniques that make java.util.concurrent classes powerful, including:
  • Lock striping in LongAdder for improved scalability
  • Lock splitting in LinkedBlockingQueue to reduce contention
  • Weakly consistent iteration in ArrayBlockingQueue for efficiency
  • Check-then-act in CopyOnWriteArrayList for correctness
• Practical guidance for writing safer, faster, and more efficient concurrent applications

These insights gave attendees a framework to understand, diagnose, and prevent concurrency issues in their own Java projects.

Why Mastering java.util.concurrent Matters

Concurrency bugs are often invisible until they cause major production issues. By understanding the design and behavior of java.util.concurrent classes, developers can:

• Avoid hidden race conditions and deadlocks
• Write code that scales efficiently under high load
• Apply best practices from Java’s core library to their own concurrent designs
• Reduce debugging time for complex multithreaded applications

Ultimately, mastering concurrency leads to robust, high-performing Java applications and fewer surprises in production environments.

Key Takeaways

• Thread-safe coding is difficult but manageable with the right design techniques
• Real-world Java classes provide valuable lessons in handling concurrency
• Lock striping, lock splitting, weakly consistent iteration, and check-then-act are key patterns in java.util.concurrent
• Applying these strategies leads to faster, safer, and more scalable Java applications

Webinar Deck

Revisit the key concepts, patterns, and examples from Dr. Kabutz’s session with our full slide deck, featuring practical code snippets, diagrams, and workflows for mastering concurrency.

Webinar Recording

Watch the full recording to explore expert strategies, live examples, and actionable insights into writing thread-safe, concurrent Java applications.

Participant Feedback

Our community always has valuable insights to share. Here’s what attendees had to say:

Stay Tuned for Next Month!

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