Challenging Multithreading Problems

Question

Is there some resource for challenging multi-threading problems? Would like to pose these to interviewees if possible. Tired of asking the same wait-notify questions that everyone gets right these days, but can't visualise a real scenario where multi-threading was employed.

Answer 1

The problem is that concurrent programming is a difficult topic. If you (the interviewer) are not fully on top of it, it will be difficult for you to tell if the interviewee knows their stuff. It is very easy to come up with solutions to concurrency problems that have subtle flaws. Conversely, it is unfair on candidates¹ if you reject them because you think their answers are wrong when they are actually correct.

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^{1 - and bad for your organisation. If the candidate actually knows more about multi-threading than you, then you arguably need to employ him. Other factors being equal, of course.}