Question

The following code is common:

Work w = new Work();
w.Data = 42;
threadDelegate = new ThreadStart(w.DoMoreWork);
newThread = new Thread(threadDelegate);
newThread.Start();

I just wonder, why there must be a delegate to bridge the Thread and the Method to execute on that thread?

Could we just send the method name to the Thread directly?

Answer 1

Could we just send the method name to the Thread directly?

As a string? Ewww. If not as a string, how would you propose telling the thread what to execute? A delegate is the idiomatic way of representing “something to execute with a particular signature” in .NET.

Note that you don’t need to use new ThreadStart or use a separate variable. This works fine using method group conversions:

newThread = new Thread(w.DoMoreWork);
newThread.Start();

Or if you won’t need all those variables:

new Thread(new Work { Data = 42 }.DoWork).Start();

EDIT: Note that as of .NET 4, it’s generally a better idea to use the Task Parallel Library for this sort of thing.