If an Asynchronous thread is a thread that operates separately to the main thread and doesn't interfere with the main thread...
Does a new Activity
not occupy the main thread after it has been started through startActivity(intent)
?
The majority of what I have read on this says these are both asynchronous, however there are a fair few conflicting answers and the people that say this don't really give convincing arguments.
So if anyone who has this clear in their head and could explain why they are synchronous/asynchronous, I would be a very grateful man!
Cheers
EDIT: So the answer I have derived from these two good folk and some stuff online...
Bringing Activities into the mix of synchronous/asynchronous can cause a load of horse to come about. But it is still referring to the principles of...
Synchronous
methods/commands must be completed before the call stack can continue.
Asynchronous
methods/commands (commonly done in a thread/AsyncTask) continue in parallel allowing the main thread of execution to continue. (It can return in its own time)
The startActivity(intent)
and startActivityForResult(intent)
methods are Asynchronous as they are non-blocking and allow the thread of execution to continue whilst performing their corresponding task as well.