Java in a Nutshell, 5th Edition

Name

Thread

Synopsis

This class encapsulates all information about a single thread of control running on the Java interpreter. To create a thread, you must either pass a Runnable object (i.e., an object that implements the Runnable interface by defining a run( ) method) to the Thread constructor or subclass Thread so that it defines its own run( ) method. The run( ) method of the Thread or of the specified Runnable object is the body of the thread. It begins executing when the start( ) method of the Thread object is called. The thread runs until the run( ) method returns. isAlive( ) returns true if a thread has been started, and the run( ) method has not yet exited.

The static methods of this class operate on the currently running thread. currentThread( ) returns the Thread object of the currently running code. sleep( ) makes the current thread stop for a specified amount of time. yield( ) makes the current thread give up control to any other threads of equal priority that are waiting to run. holdsLock( ) tests whether the current thread holds a lock (through a synchronized method or statement) on the specified object; this Java 1.4 method is often useful with an assert statement.

The instance methods may be called by one thread to operate on a different thread. checkAccess( ) checks whether the running thread has permission to modify a Thread object and throws a SecurityException if it does not. join( ) waits for a thread to die. interrupt( ) wakes up a waiting or sleeping ...