Issue
For frameworks like Node.js and ASP.NET Core, they are capable of processing requests asynchronously for I/O tasks without creating additional threads. Are java servlet containers also capable of doing this? If not, do java servlet containers wait I/O tasks in the thread until the request is fully processed?
Solution
Okay, I found the answer myself.
According to the Jakarta EE 9 documentation,:
There are two common scenarios in which a thread associated with a request can be sitting idle.
The thread needs to wait for a resource to become available or process data before building the response. For example, an application may need to query a database or access data from a remote web service before generating the response.
The thread needs to wait for an event before generating the response. For example, an application may have to wait for a Jakarta Messaging message, new information from another client, or new data available in a queue before generating the response.
These scenarios represent blocking operations that limit the scalability of web applications. Asynchronous processing refers to assigning these blocking operations to a new thread and retuning the thread associated with the request immediately to the container.
So, java servlet containers are capable of asynchronous processing. However they will create new thread for both I/O and CPU bond tasks, which is not the same model as Node.js and ASP.NET Core.
Answered By - Tianchen Tang
Answer Checked By - Marie Seifert (JavaFixing Admin)
