Learn English – lead between the eyes — what does that mean

meaningmetaphors

Example:

Professional Java developers who've come as far as they can without exploiting threads will find their skills bumped up a few notches by the time they finish Paul Hyde's Java Thread Programming. In a five-and-a-half-page first chapter, the book gives a basic concept briefing, then gets down to business with an example-rich education from the starting thread through inter-thread communication, thread groups, thread pooling, threads and Swing, and more. You'll get an experienced voice on how to gracefully exit from a thread — and find out when to use the lead-between-the-eyes SureStop class instead. You'll even find out when multiple threads aren't a good idea. If you're serious about learning what it takes to do Java really, really well, this book is a good place to invest your time.

A simple Google search reveals nothing. What do you think the author is trying to say?

Best Answer

You'll get an experienced voice on how to gracefully exit from a thread -- and find out when to use the lead-between-the-eyes SureStop class instead.

The meaning is "deadly" or "lethal" (adjective). Deadly to the thread that you want to quickly and surely halt.

You'll get an experienced voice on how to gracefully exit from a thread -- and find out when to use the deadly SureStop class instead.

The SureStop class apparently can be used to forcefully and rapidly shut down a thread - like putting a bullet (= lead) between someone's eyes.

Bullets are made of lead. The word "bullet" has been substituted with "lead" to make the sentence more expressive.

We can also say that this method is "deadly efficient", like last-resort methods often are. A method with a great "stopping power".

Hereunder goes a wholesale crib of a great comment by talrnu:

Military training specifically teaches shooters to aim at the space between the eyes in order to hit a particular part of the brain which instantly shuts down all mechanical control, e.g. so a hostage-taker doesn't have a chance to even accidentally pull the trigger on the gun they're holding to a hostage's head. So, shooting between the eyes is the most effective way to solve a conflict with a hostile gunman, and SureStop is parallelized with this idea to emphasize it's the most effective way to solve this particular programming problem.

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