Real-Time Java Platform Programming [Paperback]

Peter C. Dibble (Author)

Book Description

Series: Sun Microsystems Press Series | Publication Date: March 11, 2002

Real-time programming is critical to the development of a wide range of consumer, industrial, system, and military devices. Using the new Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ), developers can create, verify, analyze, execute and manage Java code that ensures the correctness, timeliness, and execution predictability that are essential to real-time programming. This book, written by one of RTSJ's creators, offers a practical introduction to real-time programming for every Java developer -- even those with no real-time experience at all. Replete with example code, this book gives any Java developer the skills and expertise to build powerful real-time applications. Peter Dibble begins with an overview of the key issues associated with Java real-time development. He covers garbage collection, priority scheduling and deadline scheduling in real-time environments; then introduces rate monotonic analysis, a powerful set of techniques for analyzing timing behavior to ensure that real-time systems will always meet their deadlines. The book covers every aspect of real-time Java development, including closures, the use of thread.interrupt, asynchronous events, timers, CT allocation, non-heap access, physical and "immortal" memory, structuring RT Java programming, supporting distributed real-time applications and interactions with non-RT threads, using RT Java exceptions, RT restrictions on the JVM, and much more.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Build powerful real-time Java platform applications.

• The authoritative reference to the Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ)—by one of its creators
• Complete introduction to Java-based RT development—no real-time experience necessary
• Covers scheduling, asynchronous transfer control, timers, non-heap memory, garbage collection, performance tradeoffs, program structure, and more

Written for experienced Java platform developers, this practical guide provides a solid grounding in real-time programming. Dibble, a member of the RTSJ expert group, starts with an overview of real-time issues unique to the Java platform. He then explains how to use each major feature of the RTSJ.

From broad real-time principles to detailed programming pitfalls, Real-Time Java Platform Programming covers everything you need to know to build effective RT programs. Key topics include:

• Interoperability with non-RT code, tradeoffs in real-time development, and RT issues for the JVMtm software
• Garbage collection, non-heap access, physical and "immortal" memory, and constant-time allocation of non-heap memory
• Priority scheduling, deadline scheduling, and rate monotonic analysis
• Closures, asynchronous transfer of control, asynchronous events, and timers

State-of-the-art information for RT developers:

• Threads scheduling
• Real-time scheduling
• Raw memory access
• Performance tradeoffs
• Recommended practices
• Implementation hints
• Dozens of code examples and step-by-step walk-throughs

About the Author

PETER DIBBLE, a member of the team that created the Real-Time Specification for the Java platform, was also on the Microware Systems Corporation team that first ported the Sun Java platform to an embedded system and produced the first version of Personal Java technology for a commercial RTOS. He has over a decade's experience with real-time system software and is author of OS-9 Insights and The Complete Guide to OS-9.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR; 1st edition (March 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130282618
• ISBN-13: 978-0130282613
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #924,759 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book about both Java and real time systems, July 2, 2002

By 

Juntao Yuan (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Real-Time Java Platform Programming (Paperback)

Java programs have the reputation of being slow. Performance is thought to be
Java's trade off for cross platform portability and higher developer
productivity. Real-time systems demand on time responses and in many cases,
should not fail. At the first glimpse, Java seems quite unsuitable for
real-time systems. Well, if you think so, you might want to read Peter C.
Dibble's book "Real-Time Java Platform Programming".

In fact, real-time specification is the first Java Specification Request
(JSR001) in the Java Community Process and the reference implementation just
came out in early 2002. So, this is a very timely book for this very important
new application area of the Java platform.

The focus of this book is not well known Java syntax and API functions. This
book spends a lot of pages discussing what are real-time systems, what are the
requirements and why Java 2 Standard Edition is NOT up to the task. As a
result, we can learn important things about real-time system design and the
philosophy behind the real-time Java specifications. Java is only a tool. A
real-time system engineer should first know the system design so that he can
apply Java to the new situation. I find the approach of this book very
effective.

Back to the question we raised in the first paragraph: It turns out that
performance is not THAT important for a real-time system. We can have a slow
real-time system but it has to give consistent and predictable results
everytime it runs. That consistency allows us to design systems that we know
will meet the deadline. One of Java's core problems in real-time applications
is the unpredictable behavior of the garbage collector. The book have lengthy
discussions on new algorithms on memory management and the real-time Java
approach to this problem.

Of course, garbage collector design and memory management is an example of many
real-time system design aspects covered by this book. Other important issues
include threads and synchronization. I find this book very readable for both
Java programmers interested in real-time system engineering and real-time
engineers interested in Java tools.

This book could be even better if the author can organize scattered sample code
segments into a consistent sample application and use it to demonstrate
different usages of the real-time Java platform. Also, the author did not cover
the installation and basics of the reference implementation. Nor did he cover

real application scenarios on real devices or simulators. That makes it a bit
difficult to understand the context of the examples.