static class SleepingCallable implements Callable<String> {

  final String name;
  final long period;

  SleepingCallable(final String name, final long period) {
    this.name = name;
    this.period = period;
  }

  public String call() {
    try {
      Thread.sleep(period);
    } catch (InterruptedException ex) { }
    return name;
  }
}

final ExecutorService pool = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(2);
final List<? extends Callable<String>> callables = Arrays.asList(
    new SleepingCallable("quick", 500),
    new SleepingCallable("slow", 5000));
try {
  for (final Future<String> future : pool.invokeAll(callables)) {
    System.out.println(future.get());
  }
} catch (ExecutionException | InterruptedException ex) { }
pool.shutdown();

C:devscrap>java CompletionExample
... after 5 s ...
quick
slow

final ExecutorService pool = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(2);
final CompletionService<String> service = new ExecutorCompletionService<String>(pool);
final List<? extends Callable<String>> callables = Arrays.asList(
    new SleepingCallable("slow", 5000),
    new SleepingCallable("quick", 500));
for (final Callable<String> callable : callables) {
  service.submit(callable);
}
pool.shutdown();
try {
  while (!pool.isTerminated()) {
    final Future<String> future = service.take();
    System.out.println(future.get());
  }
} catch (ExecutionException | InterruptedException ex) { }

C:devscrap>java CompletionExample
... after 500 ms ...
quick
... after 5 s ...
slow

// this waits until _all_ of the jobs complete
List<Future<Object>> futures = threadPool.invokeAll(...);

ExecutorService threadPool = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(2);
ExecutorCompletionService<Result> compService
      = new ExecutorCompletionService<Result>(threadPool);
for (MyJob job : jobs) {
    compService.submit(job);
}
// shutdown the pool but the jobs submitted continue to run
threadPool.shutdown();
while (!threadPool.isTerminated()) {
    // the take() blocks until any of the jobs complete
    // this joins with the jobs in the order they _finish_
    Future<Result> future = compService.take();
    // this get() won't block
    Result result = future.get();
    // you can then put the result in some other thread pool or something
    // to immediately start processing it
    someOtherThreadPool.submit(new SomeNewJob(result));
}