Question

In what situation would anyone ever use the no-argument constructor of the Java Thread class?
The API says:

This constructor has the same effect as Thread(null, null, gname),
where gname is a newly generated name.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the target of the thread can not be modified after the new Thread object is instantiated. If the target equals null then the start method will do nothing right?

Why would you use this constructor?

Answer 1

For one thing, it allows you to create subclasses without the PITA of explicitly calling the superclass constructor, e.g.

new Thread(){ 
   public void run() { ... }
}.start();