Questions about Threads

[Melawe]

Hello,

I've got a question or two about threads.

I'm coding an open source game, and it has a few threads. That got me wondering, how many threads are too many? What should you always use threads for? What shouldn't you use threads for? And, is there an alternative to threads?


Thanks.
-Mel

[KevinWorkman]

This is pretty context-specific. If your game is running on mainframe with 16 cores, then by all means make a bunch of threads. But if your game is running on an old single-core processor, threading will only get you so far. So it really depends on where you're running your game, what those threads do, etc.

I like to use a Swing Timer until I absolutely have to use threads.

[Melawe]

Hmm, never heard of a Swing Timer, I'll take a look at it. ^^

Btw your new avatar rocks!

[KevinWorkman]

Hmm, never heard of a Swing Timer, I'll take a look at it. ^^

Oh man, you should definitely try using a Swing Timer before you deal with threads. Here's the tutorial: How to Use Swing Timers (The Java™ Tutorials > Creating a GUI With JFC/Swing > Using Other Swing Features)

Btw your new avatar rocks!

Heh, thanks. I created it accidentally, but I thought it looked cooler than the standard java mug.