Using multiple processors and threads

Question

Hi there,
Just a quick question... I am working on an application that is VERY processor intensive. There is no real way to improve this, but I do have access to a multiple processor server.
Can anyone tell me if Java code can be written to utilise more than one processor? I assume due to the VM, that this is unlikely - and that one must resort to the operating system used on the server, where hopefully the VM can be forced to use more than one processor.
If this is not possible - has anyone written applications that run across several VMs? Is this possible, and what is the performance like?
Thanks for any help.
Nick

Answer 1

The Java VM will indeed utilize multiple processors. Just create a seperate thread to do your work and it will schedule it. In fact it's way easier than most languages:
public class MyThreadimplements Runnable {
public MyThread() {
try {
Thread newThread= new Thread(this);
newThread.setPriority(Thread.MIN_PRIORITY); // see other enumerations to boost priority
newThread.start();
} catch(Exception e) {
System.err.println(e);
public void run() {
// do your work here
}