Thread with runnable vs without runnable

Question

Could you please give a short explanation of whether there is a significant difference between the following thread implementations:

// Method 1
Thread aThread = new Thread()
{
    @Override
    public void run()
    {
        // do some work
    }
};

aThread.start();

// Method 2      
Thread bThread = new Thread(new Runnable()
{
    @Override
    public void run()
    {
        // do some work
    }
});

bThread.start();

I tried to find similar questions in stackoverflow, but couldn't succeed. Sorry, if it is already discussed before.

and here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21871073/java-thread-vs-runnable — Jared Burrows, Jul 21 '15 at 14:09
@MarkW , Please read the links I posted before making a comment. Here is a good example: http://stackoverflow.com/a/15226278/950427 from the links I provided. — Jared Burrows, Jul 21 '15 at 14:13
Jared Burrows, thank you for your comments, but I don't find them the same as my example. At least because I use threads in both methods, but in your methods - one is Thread and another one is Runnable. — Ayaz Alifov, Jul 21 '15 at 14:18
and another: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/30553051/why-should-i-use-runnable-instead-of-thread — Jared Burrows, Jul 21 '15 at 14:21
There's no difference at all. Actually, both apporaches are equally bad practise. You should use an `Executor` or `ExecutorService` instead. — fps, Jul 21 '15 at 14:24
Jared Burrows, please explain why it is the same? Federico Peralta Schaffner, thank you for your answer. But could you please explain why it is bad practise? — Ayaz Alifov, Jul 21 '15 at 14:27
@SaQada https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/concurrent/Executor.html `Executor` abstracts away the details of `Thread` creation and management. — Tripp Kinetics, Jul 21 '15 at 14:36
@FedericoPeraltaSchaffner, I've never seen a use-case for `Executor`, but `ExecutorService` is an interface for a _thread pool_. Thread pools have their uses, but they are not a silver bullet that solves all threading problems. (Hint: If `ExecutorService` solves all problems, then why did they also give us `ThreadFactory`?) I would not use a thread _pool_ in cases where I want a single `Thread` that runs for the entire lifetime of the program. — Solomon Slow, Jul 21 '15 at 16:45

Tripp Kinetics · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-21T14:10:03.960

1

As per the Javadoc:

https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/lang/Thread.html#run--

the default run() method of Thread executes the run() method of the Runnable it was created with, if it exists. Otherwise it does nothing. What this means is that creating a Thread with a Runnable does the same thing as overriding Thread's run(), except it uses slightly more stack for the additional function call.

So no. No significant difference.

edited Jul 21 '15 at 14:10

answered Jul 21 '15 at 13:43

Tripp Kinetics

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If you are going to say, `As per the Javadoc`, be sure to actually include a link. – Jared Burrows Jul 21 '15 at 14:07
@JaredBurrows Done. Thank you for the suggestion. – Tripp Kinetics Jul 21 '15 at 14:10
I did not down vote you, but this is a duplicate question anyways. – Jared Burrows Jul 21 '15 at 14:12
It doesn't matter. It was a good suggestion anyway. – Tripp Kinetics Jul 21 '15 at 14:12
Tripp Kinetics, thank you for your answer, I upvoted it. I need to search a bit in google to read about what you wrote regarding stack. – Ayaz Alifov Jul 21 '15 at 14:20
If my answer was useful, please accept it. – Tripp Kinetics Jul 21 '15 at 19:54
@Tripp Kinetics, it was, thank you :) – Ayaz Alifov Jul 24 '15 at 11:42

Thread with runnable vs without runnable

1 Answers1