Visual Basic® .NET Unleashed

Lightweight Threading with Thread Pools

Visiting the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington in August, I asked a couple of developers what the difference is between using the thread class and using the thread pool. The answer I got was that there is no real difference. The thread pool is easier because it manages thread objects for you; when you create a thread object, you have to manage it yourself.

Using threads in the ThreadPool was referred to as “lightweight” threading, and creating an instance of the Thread class was referred to as “heavyweight” threading. The adjectives did not refer to their capability but rather to ease of use. The thread pool is easier to use, but when using the thread pool, you are multithreading just as assuredly ...