Creating a Thread in Java

There are two main ways to create a thread:

The Runnable interface defines a single method, run(), that contains the code that will be executed in the thread. To create a thread using this approach, you can create a new instance of a class that implements Runnable and pass it to a Thread object's constructor. Here is an example:

                
    public class MyRunnable implements Runnable {
        public void run() {
            // code to be executed in the thread
        }
    }

    // create a new thread and start it
    Thread myThread = new Thread(new MyRunnable());
    myThread.start();
                
            

Another way to create a thread is by creating a new class that extends the Thread class and overrides its run() method. You can then create an instance of your new class and call its start() method to begin execution. Here is an example:

                
    public class MyThread extends Thread {
        public void run() {
            // code to be executed in the thread
        }
    }

    // create a new thread and start it
    MyThread myThread = new MyThread();
    myThread.start();
                
            

Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. The first approach is generally preferred because it allows for better separation of concerns and is more flexible. However, the second approach can be simpler in some cases, especially for small applications.

Thread Constructor

The Thread class provides several constructors to create and initialize threads. These constructors allow developers to set various parameters such as the name of the thread, its priority, and whether or not it should be a daemon thread.

Here are some of the constructors provided by the Thread class:

Thread(): This is the simplest constructor, which creates a new thread with a default name, default priority, and is not a daemon thread.

Thread(String name): This constructor creates a new thread with a specified name. The priority and daemon status are set to default values

Thread(Runnable target): This constructor creates a new thread with a specified Runnable object that will be the target of the thread.

Thread(Runnable target, String name): This constructor creates a new thread with a specified Runnable object and a specified name. The priority and daemon status are set to default values.

Thread(ThreadGroup group, Runnable target, String name): This constructor creates a new thread with a specified ThreadGroup, Runnable object, and name. The priority and daemon status are set to default values.

Thread(ThreadGroup group, Runnable target, String name, long stackSize): This constructor creates a new thread with a specified ThreadGroup, Runnable object, name, and stack size. The priority and daemon status are set to default values.

In addition to these constructors, the Thread class also provides methods to set and get various thread attributes such as the thread name, priority, and daemon status.

For example, here is how you can create a new thread using the Thread constructor with a specified name:

                
    Thread myThread = new Thread("MyThread");
                
            

This creates a new thread with the name "MyThread", default priority, and is not a daemon thread.

Overall, the Thread constructor provides flexibility to create threads with different attributes to suit different requirements of multithreaded applications.