如前所述，通常你希望主线程最后结束。在前面的例子中，这点是通过在main()中调用sleep()来实现的，经过足够长时间的延迟以确保所有子线程都先于主线程结束。然而，这不是一个令人满意的解决方法，它也带来一个大问题：一个线程如何知道另一线程已经结束？幸运的是，Thread类提供了回答此问题的方法。

有两种方法可以判定一个线程是否结束。第一，可以在线程中调用isAlive()。这种方法由Thread定义，它的通常形式如下：
final boolean isAlive( )

如果所调用线程仍在运行，isAlive()方法返回true，如果不是则返回false。但isAlive（）很少用到，等待线程结束的更常用的方法是调用join()，描述如下：
final void join( ) throws InterruptedException

该方法等待所调用线程结束。该名字来自于要求线程等待直到指定线程参与的概念。join()的附加形式允许给等待指定线程结束定义一个最大时间。下面是前面例子的改进版本。运用join()以确保主线程最后结束。同样，它也演示了isAlive()方法。

// Using join() to wait for threads to finish.
class NewThread implements Runnable {
    String name; // name of thread
    Thread t;
    NewThread(String threadname) {
        name = threadname;
        t = new Thread(this, name);
        System.out.println("New thread: " + t);
        t.start(); // Start the thread
    }
    // This is the entry point for thread.
    public void run() {
        try {
            for(int i = 5; i > 0; i--) {
               System.out.println(name + ": " + i);
               Thread.sleep(1000);
            }
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            System.out.println(name + " interrupted.");
        }
        System.out.println(name + " exiting.");
    }
}

class DemoJoin {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        NewThread ob1 = new NewThread("One");
        NewThread ob2 = new NewThread("Two");
        NewThread ob3 = new NewThread("Three");
        System.out.println("Thread One is alive: "+ ob1.t.isAlive());
        System.out.println("Thread Two is alive: "+ ob2.t.isAlive());
        System.out.println("Thread Three is alive: "+ ob3.t.isAlive());
        // wait for threads to finish
        try {
            System.out.println("Waiting for threads to finish.");
            ob1.t.join();
            ob2.t.join();
            ob3.t.join();
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            System.out.println("Main thread Interrupted");
        }
        System.out.println("Thread One is alive: "+ ob1.t.isAlive());
        System.out.println("Thread Two is alive: "+ ob2.t.isAlive());
        System.out.println("Thread Three is alive: "+ ob3.t.isAlive());
        System.out.println("Main thread exiting.");
    }
}

程序输出如下所示：
New thread: Thread[One,5,main]
New thread: Thread[Two,5,main]
New thread: Thread[Three,5,main]
Thread One is alive: true
Thread Two is alive: true
Thread Three is alive: true
Waiting for threads to finish.
One: 5
Two: 5
Three: 5
One: 4
Two: 4
Three: 4
One: 3
Two: 3
Three: 3
One: 2
Two: 2
Three: 2
One: 1
Two: 1
Three: 1
Two exiting.
Three exiting.
One exiting.
Thread One is alive: false
Thread Two is alive: false
Thread Three is alive: false
Main thread exiting.

如你所见，调用join()后返回，线程终止执行。