Java is a multi-threaded programming language which means we can develop

multi-threaded program using Java. A multi-threaded program contains two or more

parts that can run concurrently and each part can handle a different task at the
same time making optimal use of the available resources specially when your
computer has multiple CPUs.
By definition, multitasking is when multiple processes share common processing
resources such as a CPU. Multi-threading extends the idea of multitasking into
applications where you can subdivide specific operations within a single application
into individual threads. Each of the threads can run in parallel. The OS divides
processing time not only among different applications, but also among each thread
within an application.
Multi-threading enables you to write in a way where multiple activities can proceed
concurrently in the same program.

Life Cycle of a Thread

A thread goes through various stages in its life cycle. For example, a thread is born,
started, runs, and then dies. The following diagram shows the complete life cycle of
a thread.

Following are the stages of the life cycle −

 New − A new thread begins its life cycle in the new state. It remains in this state until the
program starts the thread. It is also referred to as a born thread.
 Runnable − After a newly born thread is started, the thread becomes runnable. A thread
in this state is considered to be executing its task.
 Waiting − Sometimes, a thread transitions to the waiting state while the thread waits for
another thread to perform a task. A thread transitions back to the runnable state only
when another thread signals the waiting thread to continue executing.
 Timed Waiting − A runnable thread can enter the timed waiting state for a specified
interval of time. A thread in this state transitions back to the runnable state when that
time interval expires or when the event it is waiting for occurs.
  Terminated (Dead) − A runnable thread enters the terminated state when it completes
its task or otherwise terminates.

Thread Priorities
Every Java thread has a priority that helps the operating system determine the
order in which threads are scheduled.
Java thread priorities are in the range between MIN_PRIORITY (a constant of 1)
and MAX_PRIORITY (a constant of 10). By default, every thread is given priority
NORM_PRIORITY (a constant of 5).
Threads with higher priority are more important to a program and should be
allocated processor time before lower-priority threads. However, thread priorities
cannot guarantee the order in which threads execute and are very much platform
dependent.

Create a Thread by Implementing a Runnable Interface

If your class is intended to be executed as a thread then you can achieve this by
implementing a Runnable interface. You will need to follow three basic steps −

Step 1

As a first step, you need to implement a run() method provided by

a Runnable interface. This method provides an entry point for the thread and you
will put your complete business logic inside this method. Following is a simple
syntax of the run() method −
public void run( )

Step 2

As a second step, you will instantiate a Thread object using the following

constructor −
Thread(Runnable threadObj, String threadName);
Where, threadObj is an instance of a class that implements the Runnable interface
and threadName is the name given to the new thread.

Step 3

Once a Thread object is created, you can start it by calling start() method, which

executes a call to run( ) method. Following is a simple syntax of start() method −
void start();

Example

Here is an example that creates a new thread and starts running it −

 Live Demo
class RunnableDemo implements Runnable {
private Thread t;
private String threadName;

RunnableDemo( String name) {

threadName = name;
System.out.println("Creating " + threadName );
}

public void run() {

System.out.println("Running " + threadName );
try {
for(int i = 4; i > 0; i--) {
System.out.println("Thread: " + threadName + ", " +
i);
// Let the thread sleep for a while.
Thread.sleep(50);
}
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
System.out.println("Thread " + threadName + "
interrupted.");
}
System.out.println("Thread " + threadName + " exiting.");
}

public void start () {

System.out.println("Starting " + threadName );
if (t == null) {
t = new Thread (this, threadName);
t.start ();
}
}
}

public class TestThread {

public static void main(String args[]) {

RunnableDemo R1 = new RunnableDemo( "Thread-1");
R1.start();

RunnableDemo R2 = new RunnableDemo( "Thread-2");

R2.start();
}
}

This will produce the following result −

Output
Creating Thread-1
Starting Thread-1
Creating Thread-2
Starting Thread-2
Running Thread-1
Thread: Thread-1, 4
Running Thread-2
Thread: Thread-2, 4
Thread: Thread-1, 3
Thread: Thread-2, 3
Thread: Thread-1, 2
Thread: Thread-2, 2
Thread: Thread-1, 1
Thread: Thread-2, 1
Thread Thread-1 exiting.
Thread Thread-2 exiting.

Create a Thread by Extending a Thread Class

The second way to create a thread is to create a new class that
extends Thread class using the following two simple steps. This approach provides
more flexibility in handling multiple threads created using available methods in
Thread class.

Step 1

You will need to override run( ) method available in Thread class. This method
provides an entry point for the thread and you will put your complete business logic
inside this method. Following is a simple syntax of run() method −
public void run( )

Step 2

Once Thread object is created, you can start it by calling start() method, which

executes a call to run( ) method. Following is a simple syntax of start() method −
void start( );

Example

Here is the preceding program rewritten to extend the Thread −

Live Demo
class ThreadDemo extends Thread {
private Thread t;
private String threadName;

ThreadDemo( String name) {

threadName = name;
System.out.println("Creating " + threadName );
}

public void run() {

System.out.println("Running " + threadName );
 try {
for(int i = 4; i > 0; i--) {
System.out.println("Thread: " + threadName + ", " +
i);
// Let the thread sleep for a while.
Thread.sleep(50);
}
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
System.out.println("Thread " + threadName + "
interrupted.");
}
System.out.println("Thread " + threadName + " exiting.");
}

public void start () {

System.out.println("Starting " + threadName );
if (t == null) {
t = new Thread (this, threadName);
t.start ();
}
}
}

public class TestThread {

public static void main(String args[]) {

ThreadDemo T1 = new ThreadDemo( "Thread-1");
T1.start();

ThreadDemo T2 = new ThreadDemo( "Thread-2");

T2.start();
}
}

This will produce the following result −

Output
Creating Thread-1
Starting Thread-1
Creating Thread-2
Starting Thread-2
Running Thread-1
Thread: Thread-1, 4
Running Thread-2
Thread: Thread-2, 4
Thread: Thread-1, 3
Thread: Thread-2, 3
Thread: Thread-1, 2
Thread: Thread-2, 2
Thread: Thread-1, 1
Thread: Thread-2, 1
Thread Thread-1 exiting.
Thread Thread-2 exiting.

Thread Methods
Following is the list of important methods available in the Thread class.

Sr.No Method & Description

.

1
public void start()
Starts the thread in a separate path of execution, then invokes the run() method on this Thread
object.

2
public void run()
If this Thread object was instantiated using a separate Runnable target, the run() method is
invoked on that Runnable object.

3
public final void setName(String name)
Changes the name of the Thread object. There is also a getName() method for retrieving the
name.

4
public final void setPriority(int priority)
Sets the priority of this Thread object. The possible values are between 1 and 10.

5
public final void setDaemon(boolean on)
A parameter of true denotes this Thread as a daemon thread.

6
public final void join(long millisec)
The current thread invokes this method on a second thread, causing the current thread to block
until the second thread terminates or the specified number of milliseconds passes.

7
public void interrupt()
Interrupts this thread, causing it to continue execution if it was blocked for any reason.

8
public final boolean isAlive()
Returns true if the thread is alive, which is any time after the thread has been started but before it
runs to completion.
The previous methods are invoked on a particular Thread object. The following
methods in the Thread class are static. Invoking one of the static methods performs
the operation on the currently running thread.

Sr.No Method & Description

.

1
public static void yield()
Causes the currently running thread to yield to any other threads of the same priority that are
waiting to be scheduled.

2
public static void sleep(long millisec)
Causes the currently running thread to block for at least the specified number of milliseconds.

3
public static boolean holdsLock(Object x)
Returns true if the current thread holds the lock on the given Object.

4
public static Thread currentThread()
Returns a reference to the currently running thread, which is the thread that invokes this method.

5
public static void dumpStack()
Prints the stack trace for the currently running thread, which is useful when debugging a
multithreaded application.

Example

The following ThreadClassDemo program demonstrates some of these methods of

the Thread class. Consider a class DisplayMessage which
implements Runnable −
// File Name : DisplayMessage.java
// Create a thread to implement Runnable

public class DisplayMessage implements Runnable {

private String message;

public DisplayMessage(String message) {

this.message = message;
}

public void run() {

while(true) {
System.out.println(message);
}
 }
}

Following is another class which extends the Thread class −

// File Name : GuessANumber.java
// Create a thread to extentd Thread

public class GuessANumber extends Thread {

private int number;
public GuessANumber(int number) {
this.number = number;
}

public void run() {

int counter = 0;
int guess = 0;
do {
guess = (int) (Math.random() * 100 + 1);
System.out.println(this.getName() + " guesses " +
guess);
counter++;
} while(guess != number);
System.out.println("** Correct!" + this.getName() + "in" +
counter + "guesses.**");
}
}

Following is the main program, which makes use of the above-defined classes −
// File Name : ThreadClassDemo.java
public class ThreadClassDemo {

public static void main(String [] args) {

Runnable hello = new DisplayMessage("Hello");
Thread thread1 = new Thread(hello);
thread1.setDaemon(true);
thread1.setName("hello");
System.out.println("Starting hello thread...");
thread1.start();

Runnable bye = new DisplayMessage("Goodbye");

Thread thread2 = new Thread(bye);
thread2.setPriority(Thread.MIN_PRIORITY);
thread2.setDaemon(true);
System.out.println("Starting goodbye thread...");
thread2.start();

System.out.println("Starting thread3...");
Thread thread3 = new GuessANumber(27);
thread3.start();
try {
thread3.join();
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
 System.out.println("Thread interrupted.");
}
System.out.println("Starting thread4...");
Thread thread4 = new GuessANumber(75);

thread4.start();
System.out.println("main() is ending...");
}
}

This will produce the following result. You can try this example again and again and
you will get a different result every time.

Output
Starting hello thread...
Starting goodbye thread...
Hello
Hello
Hello
Hello
Hello
Hello
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
.......

Commonly used Constructors of Thread class:

o Thread()
o Thread(String name)
o Thread(Runnable r)
o Thread(Runnable r,String name)

Commonly used methods of Thread class:

1. public void run(): is used to perform action for a thread.

2. public void start(): starts the execution of the thread.JVM calls the run() method on the
3. thread.
4. public void sleep(long miliseconds): Causes the currently executing thread to sleep (temp
the specified number of milliseconds.
 5. public void join(): waits for a thread to die.
6. public void join(long miliseconds): waits for a thread to die for the specified miliseconds.
7. public int getPriority(): returns the priority of the thread.
8. public int setPriority(int priority): changes the priority of the thread.
9. public String getName(): returns the name of the thread.
10. public void setName(String name): changes the name of the thread.
11. public Thread currentThread(): returns the reference of currently executing thread.
12. public int getId(): returns the id of the thread.
13. public Thread.State getState(): returns the state of the thread.
14. public boolean isAlive(): tests if the thread is alive.
15. public void yield(): causes the currently executing thread object to temporarily pause and
16. allow other threads to execute.
17. public void suspend(): is used to suspend the thread(depricated).
18. public void resume(): is used to resume the suspended thread(depricated).
19. public void stop(): is used to stop the thread(depricated).
20. public boolean isDaemon(): tests if the thread is a daemon thread.
21. public void setDaemon(boolean b): marks the thread as daemon or user thread.
22. public void interrupt(): interrupts the thread.
23. public boolean isInterrupted(): tests if the thread has been interrupted.
24. public static boolean interrupted(): tests if the current thread has been interrupted.

1) Java Thread Example by extending Thread

class
1. class Multi extends Thread{  
2. public void run(){  
3. System.out.println("thread is running...");  
4. }  
5. public static void main(String args[]){  
6. Multi t1=new Multi();  
7. t1.start();  
8.  }  
9. }  
Output:thread is running...
 2) Java Thread Example by implementing
Runnable interface
1. class Multi3 implements Runnable{  
2. public void run(){  
3. System.out.println("thread is running...");  
4. }  
5.   
6. public static void main(String args[]){  
7. Multi3 m1=new Multi3();  
8. Thread t1 =new Thread(m1);  
9. t1.start();  
10.  }  
11. }  
Output:thread is running...

If you are not extending the Thread class,your class object would not be treated as a th
create Thread class object.We are passing the object of your class that implements Run
may execute.