Thread
What is a thread ?
• A sequential (or single-threaded) program is one that, when executed, has only one
single flow of control.
• i.e., at any time instant, there is at most only one instruction (or statement or execution point) that
is being executed in the program.
• A multi-threaded program is one that can have multiple flows of control when executed.
• At some time instance, there may exist multiple instructions or execution points) that are being
executed in the program
• Ex: in a Web browser we may do the following tasks at the same time:
• 1. scroll a page,
• 2. download an applet or image,
• 3. play sound,
• 4 print a page.
• A thread is a single sequential flow of control within a program.
{ A();
{ A(); A1(); A2(); A3(); newThreads {
B1(); B2(); } { A1(); A2(); A3() };
{B1(); B2() }
}
}
Thread ecology in a java
started program
by java from main(String[])
started by main thread
started by B thread
lifetime of C thread
2. Define and launch a java thread
• Each Java Run time thread is encapsulated in a java.lang.Thread instance.
• Two ways to define a thread:
1. Extend the Thread class
2. Implement the Runnable interface :
package java.lang;
public interface Runnable { public void run() ; }
• Steps for extending the Thread class:
1. Subclass the Thread class;
2. Override the default Thread method run(), which is the entry point of the thread,
like the main(String[]) method in a java program.
Define a thread
• Extends Thread
public class Print2Console extends Thread {
public void run() { // run() is to a thread what main() is to a java program
for (int b = -128; b < 128; b++) out.println(b); }
… // additional methods, fields …
}
• Impement the Runnable interface if you need a parent class:
// by extending JTextArea we can reuse all existing code of JTextArea
public class Print2GUI extends JTextArea implements Runnable {
public void run() {
for (int b = -128; b < 128; b++) append( Integer.toString(b) + “\n” ); }
}
Some thread property access methods
• int getID() // every thread has a unique ID, since jdk1.5
• String getName(); setName(String)
• // get/set the name of the thread
• int getPriority() ; setPriority(int) // thread has priority in [0, 31]
• Thread.State getState() // return current state of this thread
• Join()
• Wait for thread to terminate
• Run()
• Entry point for thread
• Start()
• Start the method by calling its method
• boolean isAlive()
• Tests if this thread has been started and has not yet died. .
• boolean isDaemon()
• Tests if this thread is a daemon thread.
• boolean isInterrupted()
• Tests whether this thread has been interrupted.
State methods for current thread accesses
• static Thread currentThread()
• Returns a reference to the currently executing thread object.
• static boolean holdsLock(Object obj)
• Returns true if and only if the current thread holds the monitor lock on the specified
object.
• static boolean interrupted()
• Tests whether the current thread has been interrupted.
• static void sleep( [ long millis [, int nanos ]] )
• Causes the currently executing thread to sleep (cease execution) for the specified time.
• static void yield()
• Causes the currently executing thread object to temporarily pause and allow other
threads to execute.
Method 1:
Class Thread
Example 1:
class MyThread1 extends Thread {
public void run()
{
System.out.println("Thread1 is running");
}
}
class MyThread2 extends Thread {
public void run()
{
System.out.println("Thread2 is running");
}
}
class GFG {
public static void main(String[] args)
{
MyThread1 obj1 = new MyThread1();
MyThread2 obj2 = new MyThread2();
obj1.start();
obj2.start();
}
}
Example 2
public class SimpleThread extends Thread {
public SimpleThread(String str) { super(str); }
public void run() {
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
System.out.println(i + " " + getName());
try { // at this point, current thread is ‘this’.
Thread.sleep((long)(Math.random() * 1000));
} catch (InterruptedException e) {}
}
System.out.println("DONE! " + getName());
} }
0 Thread-0
0 Thread-1
output
1 Thread-1
1 Thread-0
2 Thread-0
2 Thread-1
3 Thread-1
3 Thread-0
4 Thread-0
4 Thread-1
5 Thread-1
5 Thread-0
6 Thread-0
6 Thread-1
7 Thread-1
7 Thread-0
8 Thread-0
8 Thread-1
9 Thread-1
9 Thread-0
DONE! Thread-0
DONE! Thread-1
Method 2:
Runnable interface
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
class MyThread1 implements Runnable {
public void run() {
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
System.out.println("Thread1");
try {
Thread.sleep(1000); }
catch (Exception e) {
} } } }
class MyThread2 implements Runnable {
public void run()
{
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
System.out.println("Thread2");
try {
Thread.sleep(1000);
}
catch (Exception e) {
} } } }
public class GFG {
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Runnable obj1 = new MyThread1();
Runnable obj2 = new MyThread2();
Thread t1 = new Thread(obj1);
Thread t2 = new Thread(obj2);
t1.start();
t2.start();
} }
output
Thread1
Thread2
Thread1
Thread2
Thread1
Thread2
Thread1
Thread2
Thread1
Thread2
Example 2:
output
Example 3
output
Lifecycle of thread
A thread lies only in one of the shown states at any instant:
New State
Runnable State
Blocked State
Waiting State
Timed Waiting State
Terminated State
