Discusses the things you need to know to program threads in the real world. This article assumes you understand the language-level support for threads and focuses on the legion of problems that arise when you try to use these language features.

Explains how to fix the double-checked locking idiom by using thread-local variables and takes a look at its performance.

Explains how to apply consistent rules for acquiring multiple locks simultaneously, to reduce the likelihood of synchronization deadlocks.

Gives an introduction to threads and explores the Thread class and runnables.

Discussion of two more architectural solutions to threading problems: a synchronous dispatcher (or 'reactor') and an asynchronous dispatcher (or 'active object').

Reader/writer locks let multiple threads safely access a shared resource in an efficient way.

Timers let you perform fixed-interval operations, such as animation refreshes.

A condition variable adds to wait the ability to not wait when the condition you're waiting for has already taken place; and a counting semaphore lets you control a pool of resources without sucking up machine cycles in polling loops.

Discusses the perils that can arise when you approach multithreading in a naive way.

Looks at how and why you might want to roll your own exclusion semaphores, and presents a lock manager that will help you safely acquire multiple semaphores.