Module java.base
Package java.util.concurrent

Interface Future<V>

Type Parameters:
V - The result type returned by this Future's get method
All Known Subinterfaces:
RunnableFuture<V>, RunnableScheduledFuture<V>, ScheduledFuture<V>
All Known Implementing Classes:
CompletableFuture, CountedCompleter, ForkJoinTask, FutureTask, RecursiveAction, RecursiveTask, SwingWorker
public interface Future<V>
A Future represents the result of an asynchronous computation. Methods are provided to check if the computation is complete, to wait for its completion, and to retrieve the result of the computation. The result can only be retrieved using method get when the computation has completed, blocking if necessary until it is ready. Cancellation is performed by the cancel method. Additional methods are provided to determine if the task completed normally or was cancelled. Once a computation has completed, the computation cannot be cancelled. If you would like to use a Future for the sake of cancellability but not provide a usable result, you can declare types of the form Future<?> and return null as a result of the underlying task.

Sample Usage (Note that the following classes are all made-up.) 

 
 interface ArchiveSearcher { String search(String target); }
 class App {
   ExecutorService executor = ...;
   ArchiveSearcher searcher = ...;
   void showSearch(String target) throws InterruptedException {
     Callable<String> task = () -> searcher.search(target);
     Future<String> future = executor.submit(task);
     displayOtherThings(); // do other things while searching
     try {
       displayText(future.get()); // use future
     } catch (ExecutionException ex) { cleanup(); return; }
   }
 }
The FutureTask class is an implementation of Future that implements Runnable, and so may be executed by an Executor. For example, the above construction with submit could be replaced by: 
 
 FutureTask<String> future = new FutureTask<>(task);
 executor.execute(future);

Memory consistency effects: Actions taken by the asynchronous computation happen-before actions following the corresponding Future.get() in another thread.

Since:
1.5
See Also:

  • Nested Class Summary

    Nested Classes
    Modifier and Type
    Interface
    Description
    static enum 
    Future.State
    Represents the computation state.

  • Method Summary

    Modifier and Type
    Method
    Description
    boolean
    cancel(boolean mayInterruptIfRunning)
    Attempts to cancel execution of this task.
    default Throwable
    exceptionNow()
    Returns the exception thrown by the task, without waiting.
    V
    get()
    Waits if necessary for the computation to complete, and then retrieves its result.
    V
    get(long timeout, TimeUnit unit)
    Waits if necessary for at most the given time for the computation to complete, and then retrieves its result, if available.
    boolean
    isCancelled()
    Returns true if this task was cancelled before it completed normally.
    boolean
    isDone()
    Returns true if this task completed.
    default V
    resultNow()
    Returns the computed result, without waiting.
    default Future.State
    state()
    Returns the computation state.

  • Method Details

    • cancel

      boolean cancel(boolean mayInterruptIfRunning)
      Attempts to cancel execution of this task. This method has no effect if the task is already completed or cancelled, or could not be cancelled for some other reason. Otherwise, if this task has not started when cancel is called, this task should never run. If the task has already started, then the mayInterruptIfRunning parameter determines whether the thread executing this task (when known by the implementation) is interrupted in an attempt to stop the task.

      The return value from this method does not necessarily indicate whether the task is now cancelled; use isCancelled().

      Parameters:
      mayInterruptIfRunning - true if the thread executing this task should be interrupted (if the thread is known to the implementation); otherwise, in-progress tasks are allowed to complete
      Returns:
      false if the task could not be cancelled, typically because it has already completed; true otherwise. If two or more threads cause a task to be cancelled, then at least one of them returns true. Implementations may provide stronger guarantees.

    • isCancelled

      boolean isCancelled()
      Returns true if this task was cancelled before it completed normally.
      Returns:
      true if this task was cancelled before it completed

    • isDone

      boolean isDone()
      Returns true if this task completed. Completion may be due to normal termination, an exception, or cancellation -- in all of these cases, this method will return true.
      Returns:
      true if this task completed

    • get

      V get() throws InterruptedException, ExecutionException
      Waits if necessary for the computation to complete, and then retrieves its result.
      Returns:
      the computed result
      Throws:
      CancellationException - if the computation was cancelled
      ExecutionException - if the computation threw an exception
      InterruptedException - if the current thread was interrupted while waiting

    • get

      V get(long timeout, TimeUnit unit) throws InterruptedException, ExecutionException, TimeoutException
      Waits if necessary for at most the given time for the computation to complete, and then retrieves its result, if available.
      Parameters:
      timeout - the maximum time to wait
      unit - the time unit of the timeout argument
      Returns:
      the computed result
      Throws:
      CancellationException - if the computation was cancelled
      ExecutionException - if the computation threw an exception
      InterruptedException - if the current thread was interrupted while waiting
      TimeoutException - if the wait timed out

    • resultNow

      default V resultNow()
      Returns the computed result, without waiting.

      This method is for cases where the caller knows that the task has already completed successfully, for example when filtering a stream of Future objects for the successful tasks and using a mapping operation to obtain a stream of results. 

          results = futures.stream()
               .filter(f -> f.state() == Future.State.SUCCESS)
               .map(Future::resultNow)
               .toList();
      Implementation Requirements:
      The default implementation invokes isDone() to test if the task has completed. If done, it invokes get() to obtain the result.
      Returns:
      the computed result
      Throws:
      IllegalStateException - if the task has not completed or the task did not complete with a result
      Since:
      19

    • exceptionNow

      default Throwable exceptionNow()
      Returns the exception thrown by the task, without waiting.

      This method is for cases where the caller knows that the task has already completed with an exception.

      Implementation Requirements:
      The default implementation invokes isDone() to test if the task has completed. If done and not cancelled, it invokes get() and catches the ExecutionException to obtain the exception.
      Returns:
      the exception thrown by the task
      Throws:
      IllegalStateException - if the task has not completed, the task completed normally, or the task was cancelled
      Since:
      19

    • state

      default Future.State state()
      Returns the computation state.
      Implementation Requirements:
      The default implementation uses isDone(), isCancelled(), and get() to determine the state.
      Returns:
      the computation state
      Since:
      19