In Java, Thread is a predefined class declared in java.lang default package. Each thread in Java is created and controlled by a unique object of the Thread class.

An object of thread controls a thread running under JVM. Thread class contains various methods that can be used to start, control, interrupt the execution of a thread, and for many other thread related activities in a program.

Thread class extends Object class and it implements Runnable interface. The declaration of thread class is as follows:

public class Thread
   extends Object
      implements Runnable

 Thread Class Constructor

The various constructors of thread class are defined in java.lang package that can be used to create an object of thread are as follows:

1. Thread(): This is a basic and default constructor without parameters. It simply creates an object of Thread class.

2. Thread(String name): It creates a new thread object with specified name to a thread.

3. Thread(Runnable r): It creates a thread object by passing a parameter r as a reference to an object of the class that implements Runnable interface.

4. Thread(Runnable r, String name): This constructor creates a thread object by passing two arguments r and name. Here, variable r is a reference of an object of class that implements Runnable interface.

Methods of Thread Class in Java

Thread class provides various static methods that are as follows:

1. currentThread(): The currentThread() returns the reference of currently executing thread. Since this is a static method, so we can call it directly using the class name. The general syntax for currentThread() is as follows:

public static Thread currentThread()

2. sleep(): The sleep() method puts currently executing thread to sleep for specified number of milliseconds. This method is used to pause the current thread for specified amount of time in milliseconds.

Since this method is static, so we can access it through Thread class name. The general syntax of this method is as follows:

public static void sleep(long milliseconds) throws InterruptedException

The general syntax for overloaded version of sleep method is as follows:

public static void sleep(long milliseconds, int nanoseconds ) throw InterruptedException

The overloaded version of sleep() method is used to pause specified period of time in milliseconds and nanoseconds. Both methods throw InterruptedException and must be used within Java try-catch block.

3. yield(): The yield() method pauses the execution of current thread and allows another thread of equal or higher priority that are waiting to execute. Currently executing thread give up the control of the CPU.  The general form of yield() method is as follows:

public static void yield()

4. activeCount(): This method returns the number of active threads.

public static int activeCount()

Since this method is static, so it can be accessed through Thread class name. It does not accept anything.

The instance methods of Thread class are as follows:

1. start(): The start() method is used to start the execution of a thread by calling its run() method. JVM calls the run() method on the thread. The general syntax for start() method is as follows:

public void start()

2. run(): The run() method moves the thread into running state. It is executed only after the start() method has been executed. The general syntax is as follows:

public void run()

3. getName(): This method returns the name of the thread. The return type of this method is String. The general form of this method is:

public final String getName()

4. setName(): This method is used to set the name of a thread. It takes an argument of type String. It returns nothing.

public final void setName(String name)

5. getPriority(): This method returns the priority of a thread. It returns priority in the form of an integer value ranging from 1 to 10. The maximum priority is 10, the minimum priority is 1, and normal priority is 5.

public final int getPriority() // Return type is an integer.

6. setPriority(): This method is used to set the priority of a thread. It accepts an integer value as an argument. The general syntax is given below:

public final void setPriority(int newPriority)

7. isAlive(): This method is used to check the thread is alive or not. It returns a boolean value (true or false) that indicates thread is running or not. The isAlive() method is final and native. The general syntax for isAlive() method is as follows:

public final native boolean isAlive()

8. join(): The join() method is used to make a thread wait for another thread to terminate its process. The general syntax is

public final void join() throw InterruptedException

This method throws InterruptedException and must be used within a try-catch block.

9. stop(): This method is used to stop the thread. The general form for this method is as follows:

public final void stop()

This method neither accepts anything nor returns anything.

10. suspend(): The suspend() method is used to suspend or pause a thread.

public final void suspend()

11. resume(): This method is used to resume the suspended thread. It neither accepts anything nor returns anything.

public final void resume()

12. isDaemon(): This method is used to check the thread is daemon thread or not.

public final boolean isDaemon()

All these methods of class Thread will be discussed more with example programs in further tutorials.

Final words
By the end of this tutorial, you familiarized Thread class and Thread methods in Java. In the next tutorial, we will learn thread creation. We will learn two different ways to create a new thread in Java.
Thanks for reading!!!

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