A thread, in the context of Java, is the path followed when executing a program. All Java programs have at least one thread, known as the main thread, which is created by the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) at the program’s start, when the main() method is invoked with the main thread.
In Java, creating a thread is accomplished by implementing an interface and extending a class. Every Java thread is created and controlled by the java.lang.Thread class.
When a thread is created, it is assigned a priority. The thread with higher priority is executed first, followed by lower-priority threads. The JVM stops executing threads under either of the following conditions:
- If the exit method has been invoked and authorized by the security manager
- All the daemon threads of the program has died.
