How to Schedule a Recurring Task Using the Timer Class in Java? — IT Interview Guide

In Java, scheduling recurring tasks is a common requirement in many applications, whether for periodic tasks, timeouts, or automation. The Timer class in Java provides an efficient way to schedule tasks for future execution, either at fixed-rate intervals or with fixed-delay.

The Timer class, part of the java.util package, allows you to schedule one-time or recurring tasks that are executed in a background thread. Recurring tasks can be scheduled using the scheduleAtFixedRate() method or schedule() method for periodic execution.

In this article, we’ll explore how to use the Timer class to schedule recurring tasks. We’ll dive into the implementation and understand the various methods, their usage, and best practices for scheduling recurring tasks effectively.

Before starting with the code, let’s discuss the fundamental components involved:

• Timer: A class used to schedule tasks to run at a fixed rate or with a fixed delay.
• TimerTask: An abstract class representing a task that can be scheduled with a Timer. It defines the code that will be executed at the scheduled time.

### 1. The Timer and TimerTask Classes