How do you start a thread in Java?
In Java, threads can be started either by calling the start() method on a Thread object or by passing the Runnable to a Thread constructor and then calling the start() method. However, to ensure that a thread starts executing immediately, you can use the Threadrun() method directly. This approach is generally discouraged because it does not start a new thread of execution; instead, it executes the run() method in the current thread, which defeats the purpose of multithreading.
Table of Contents
Explanation
1. start() Method
The start() method is used to start the execution of a thread by creating a new thread of execution and calling the run() method on that thread in Java.
2. Runnable Interface
Threads can be created by implementing the Runnable interface and passing an instance of the implementation to the Thread constructor. The run() method of the Runnable interface contains the code to be executed by the thread.
3. Threadrun() Method
Directly calling the run() method of a Thread object does not start a new thread of execution. Instead, it executes the run() method in the current thread, which may not be what you intend, especially in multithreaded applications.
java
public class ThreadStartExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Create a Runnable
Runnable myRunnable = () -> {
System.out.println("Thread is running");
};
// Create a Thread using the Runnable
Thread myThread = new Thread(myRunnable);
// Start the thread using the start() method
myThread.start(); // This starts a new thread of execution
// Alternatively, you can call the run() method directly,
// but it will not start a new thread; instead, it will execute
// the run() method in the current thread
// myThread.run(); // Avoid using this approach for starting threads
}
}
In this example, thread in Java is a Runnable object containing the code to be executed by the thread. myThread is a Thread object created using myRunnable, and its start() method is called to start the thread. Alternatively, you can call the run() method directly on myThread, but this approach does not start a new thread; it executes the run() method in the current thread, which is usually not the intended behavior.