Blocking/synchronous programming has been the norm in Java. However, this programming model has a major limitation: it requires the use of a thread per concurrent request. This means that the number of requests you can process concurrently cannot exceed the number of threads, which limits scaling. This talk will explore how an asynchronous programming model can be used to avoid this limitation.

We’ll start with an introduction into asynchronous design and motivations, then there will be a live coding session where we will build an example service that calls out to another HTTP service and a database without blocking.

By the end of the session, you should be aware of the popular tools for non-blocking programming in Java and when and why you should use them.