threads

[kyle_maddisson]

Is there an alternative to extending class Thread for producing threadable code? If there is what does it require?

[pbrockway2]

Is there an alternative to extending class Thread for producing threadable code?

Yes, you could not extend it, but use it as-is passing an instance of Runnable to its constructor. See Defining and Starting a Thread in Oracle's Tutorial.

That section of the Tutorial also discusses using Executor interfaces - again pass them a Runnable and it gets run. The Executor may well do things like maintain pools or worker threads (so you don't have to).