Threads are concurrent execution environments that are lighter than full-blown processes because they share some operating system resources. Threads make it possible to do several things at the same time while using less resources and offering simpler synchronization and data exchange compared to processes.

If you move a blocking operation to a separate thread, it cannot block the event loop and keeps the user interface reactive. Blocking the event loop and using long-running callbacks means the application cannot update its graphical user interface.

While threads can be useful, they are not always the best choice:

• The first rule to using threads is to avoid them as much as possible, as there are often better tools and approaches. For example, to do network transfers, use Ecore_Con that integrates with the event loop to use a function based on callbacks. Being able to use such a function means that specific support work has been done in libraries. In some cases, using a function and libraries is impossible, and in those situations threads are required.
• Use threads in CPU-intensive tasks and disk IOs. For example, a thread is the appropriate way to apply filters to an image or to a video without blocking the interface.
• Use threads to take advantage of multiple available CPU cores, if the workload can be split into several units of work and spread across the cores. A typical example for an image processing application on a quad-core CPU is to process 4 images at once, each on 1 thread. For such tasks, the thread pool helps with the creation and scheduling of the threads, handling all the grunt work.

• Thread Safety
• Thread Pools
• Thread Management with ECore
• Low-level Functions
• Thread Use Example