Java thread as an event loop thread

Question

I want to use a thread as an event loop thread. I mean a Java thread with a "QThread like behaviour" (t2 in the following example). Explanation:

I have a thread t1 (main thread) and a thread t2 (a worker thread). I want that method(), called from t1, is executed in t2 thread.

Currently, I made this code (it works, but I don't like it):

-Thread t1 (Main thread, UI thread for example):

//...
// Here, I want to call "method()" in t2's thread
Runnable event = new Runnable() {

    @Override
    public void run()
    {
        t2.method(param);
    }
};
t2.postEvent(event);
//...

-Thread t2:

//...
Queue<Runnable> eventLoopQueue = new ConcurrentLinkedQueue<Runnable>();
//...
@Override
public void run()
{
    //...
    Runnable currentEvent = null;
    while (!bMustStop) {
        while ((currentEvent = eventLoopQueue.poll()) != null) {
            currentEvent.run();
        }
    }
    //...
}

public void method(Param param)
{
    /* code that should be executed in t2's thread */
}

public void postEvent(Runnable event)
{
    eventLoopQueue.offer(event);
}

This solution is ugly. I don't like the "always-working" main loop in t2, the new Runnable allocation each time in t1... My program can call method something like 40 times per second, so I need it to be efficient.

I'm looking for a solution that should be used on Android too (I know the class Looper for Android, but it's only for Android, so impossible)

Answer 1

Consider using BlockingQueue instead of Queue for its method take() will block the thread until an element is available on the queue, thus not wasting cycles like poll() does.