What are the ways to create a thread in Java?

import java.util.concurrent.*;

public class Main {
    static class MyThread extends Thread {
        public void run() { System.out.println("1. extends Thread"); }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        MyThread t1 = new MyThread();
        t1.start();
        t1.join();

        Thread t2 = new Thread(() -> System.out.println("2. Runnable lambda"));
        t2.start();
        t2.join();

        try (ExecutorService pool = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(2)) {
            Future<String> f = pool.submit(() -> "3. Callable returns a value");
            System.out.println(f.get());
        }

        Thread t4 = Thread.ofVirtual().start(() -> System.out.println("4. virtual thread"));
        t4.join();
    }
}

Way	Returns a value?	Note
Extend Thread	No	Uses your only parent class
Runnable	No	The usual simple way
Callable + ExecutorService	Yes (Future)	Best for real programs
Virtual thread	Same as above	Light, for many waiting tasks (Java 21+)

See Java Threads.

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