Klienttråd

Klienttråd is a term used in Swedish programming to describe a dedicated thread in a server process that handles communication with a single client over a network connection. When a server accepts a new connection, it may create a new klienttråd to manage the client’s socket and perform per‑connection processing, or reuse one from a thread pool.

A klienttråd typically reads from the socket, parses incoming data, applies protocol logic, sends responses, and maintains per‑connection state. The thread usually runs until the client disconnects, a protocol error occurs, or the server shuts down. In many designs, the thread also coordinates with other parts of the server, for example by queuing work or updating shared state.

Design approaches vary. One thread per client is straightforward to implement andReason about but can scale poorly to many simultaneous clients due to memory usage and context switching. Alternative patterns use a thread pool to limit active threads and combine with non-blocking I/O or event-driven architectures to handle many connections with fewer threads. Some servers rely on asynchronous I/O libraries to avoid blocking a thread while waiting for network operations.

Implementation considerations include proper resource management, timeouts, error handling, and clean shutdown procedures. Developers should guard shared resources with synchronization, avoid long-held locks during I/O, and prevent resource leaks from misbehaving clients. Language-specific patterns include Java’s Thread or ExecutorService, POSIX threads in C/C++, or Windows threading APIs, along with appropriate socket APIs and error handling.

See also: multithreading, thread pool, asynchronous I/O, non-blocking sockets, socket programming.