New to threads. How do they work?

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

In message <1153361291.923692.45330 at s13g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, gel
wrote:

> I am attempting to understand threads to use in a network app which I
> am writing.

It is written, somewhere in the philosophy of *nix programming, that threads
are a performance hack, to be avoided wherever possible. Use processes in
preference to threads.