Starting a Thread

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();

Syntax of Starting a Thread

The following is the syntax of starting a thread –

thread_obj.start();

Here, thread_obj is an object to the Thread class, and start() is the method of the Thread class.

Start a Thread by Implementing Runnable Interface

In this example, we”re creating a class RunnableDemo by implementing Runnable interface. RunnableDemo class has run() method implementation. In main class TestThread, we”ve created the RunnableDemo objects and using those objects we”ve created two Thread objects. When Thread.start() method is called on each thread objects, threads start processing and program is executed.

Example

package com.tutorialspoint;
class RunnableDemo implements Runnable {
   private String threadName;
   RunnableDemo( String name) {
      threadName = name;
      System.out.println("Thread: " + threadName + ", " + "State: New");
   }
   public void run() {
      System.out.println("Thread: " + threadName + ", " + "State: Running");
      for(int i = 4; i > 0; i--) {
         System.out.println("Thread: " + threadName + ", " + i);         
      }
      System.out.println("Thread: " + threadName + ", " + "State: Dead");
   }
}
public class TestThread {
   public static void main(String args[]) {
	  RunnableDemo runnableDemo1 = new RunnableDemo( "Thread-1");
	  RunnableDemo runnableDemo2 = new RunnableDemo( "Thread-2");	  
	  Thread thread1 = new Thread(runnableDemo1);
	  Thread thread2 = new Thread(runnableDemo2);
	  thread1.start();
	  thread2.start();
   }
}

Output

Thread: Thread-1, State: New
Thread: Thread-2, State: New
Thread: Thread-1, State: Running
Thread: Thread-1, 4
Thread: Thread-1, 3
Thread: Thread-1, 2
Thread: Thread-1, 1
Thread: Thread-1, State: Dead
Thread: Thread-2, State: Running
Thread: Thread-2, 4
Thread: Thread-2, 3
Thread: Thread-2, 2
Thread: Thread-2, 1
Thread: Thread-2, State: Dead

Start a Thread by Extending Thread Class

Here is the preceding program rewritten to extend the Thread − In this example, we”ve created a ThreadDemo class which extends Thread class. We”re calling super(name) in constructor() method to assign a name to the thread and called super.start() to start the thread processing.

Example

package com.tutorialspoint;
class ThreadDemo extends Thread {
   ThreadDemo( String name) {
	  super(name);
      System.out.println("Thread: " + name + ", " + "State: New");
   }
   public void run() {
      System.out.println("Thread: " + Thread.currentThread().getName() + ", " + "State: Running");
      for(int i = 4; i > 0; i--) {
         System.out.println("Thread: " + Thread.currentThread().getName() + ", " + i); 
      }
      System.out.println("Thread: " + Thread.currentThread().getName() + ", " + "State: Dead");
   }
   public void start () {
      System.out.println("Thread: " + Thread.currentThread().getName() + ", " + "State: Start");
      super.start();
   }
}
public class TestThread {
   public static void main(String args[]) {
	  ThreadDemo thread1 = new ThreadDemo( "Thread-1");
	  ThreadDemo thread2 = new ThreadDemo( "Thread-2");
	  thread1.start();
	  thread2.start();
   }
}

Output

Thread: Thread-1, State: New
Thread: Thread-2, State: New
Thread: Thread-1, State: Running
Thread: Thread-1, 4
Thread: Thread-1, 3
Thread: Thread-1, 2
Thread: Thread-1, 1
Thread: Thread-1, State: Dead
Thread: Thread-2, State: Running
Thread: Thread-2, 4
Thread: Thread-2, 3
Thread: Thread-2, 2
Thread: Thread-2, 1
Thread: Thread-2, State: Dead

Start a Thread (with Demonstrating sleep() method)

In this example, we”re creating couple of objects of ThreadDemo class which extends Thread class. We”re calling super(name) in constructor() method to assign a name to the thread and called super.start() to start the thread processing. Using sleep() method, we”re introducing the delay in processing.

Example

package com.tutorialspoint;
class ThreadDemo extends Thread {
   ThreadDemo( String name) {
	  super(name);
      System.out.println("Thread: " + name + ", " + "State: New");
   }
   public void run() {
      System.out.println("Thread: " + Thread.currentThread().getName() + ", " + "State: Running");
      for(int i = 4; i > 0; i--) {
         System.out.println("Thread: " + Thread.currentThread().getName() + ", " + i); 
         try {
			Thread.sleep(50);
		} catch (InterruptedException e) {
			// TODO Auto-generated catch block
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
      }
      System.out.println("Thread: " + Thread.currentThread().getName() + ", " + "State: Dead");
   }
   public void start () {
      System.out.println("Thread: " + Thread.currentThread().getName() + ", " + "State: Start");
      super.start();
   }
}
public class TestThread {
   public static void main(String args[]) {
	   ThreadDemo thread1 = new ThreadDemo( "Thread-1");
	   ThreadDemo thread2 = new ThreadDemo( "Thread-2");
	  thread1.start();
	  thread2.start();
   }
}

Output

Thread: Thread-1, State: New
Thread: Thread-2, State: New
Thread: main, State: Start
Thread: main, State: Start
Thread: Thread-1, State: Running
Thread: Thread-1, 4
Thread: Thread-2, State: Running
Thread: Thread-2, 4
Thread: Thread-2, 3
Thread: Thread-1, 3
Thread: Thread-1, 2
Thread: Thread-2, 2
Thread: Thread-2, 1
Thread: Thread-1, 1
Thread: Thread-1, State: Dead
Thread: Thread-2, State: Dead