Java™ How To Program (Early Objects), Tenth Edition

23.2.6 Operating-System View of the Runnable State

At the operating system level, Java’s runnable state typically encompasses two separate states (Fig. 23.2). The operating system hides these states from the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which sees only the runnable state. When a thread first transitions to the runnable state from the new state, it’s in the ready state. A ready thread enters the running state (i.e., begins executing) when the operating system assigns it to a processor—also known as dispatching the thread. In most operating systems, each thread is given a small amount of processor time—called a quantum or timeslice—with which to perform its task. Deciding how large the quantum should be is a key topic in operating systems courses. ...