Threads and Concurrent Programming
Threads may be seen as methods that execute at "the same time" as other methods. Normally, we think sequentially when writing a computer program. From this perspective, only one thing executes at a time. However, with today's multi-core processors, it is possible to literally have several things going on at the very same time while sharing the same memory. There are lots of ways that this is done in the real world, and this chapter goes over them in a way that you can apply to your own projects.
14.5 Using Threads to Improve Interface Responsiveness
One good use for a multithreaded program is to help make a more responsive user interface. In a single-threaded program, a program that is executing statements in a long (perhaps even infinite) loop remains unresponsive to the user’s actions until the loop is exited. Thus, the user will
experience a noticeable and sometimes frustrating delay between the time
an action is initiated and the time it is actually handled by the program.