In Ruby, the lifecycle of a single thread starts automatically as soon as CPU resources are available. The thread runs the code in the block where it was instantiated and obtains the value of the last expression in that block and returns it upon completion. Threads use up resources, but running multiple threads at a time can improve an app’s performance.

Thread pooling is a technique wherein multiple pre-instantiated reusable threads are left on standby, ready to perform work when needed. Thread pooling is best used when there are a large number of short tasks that must be performed. This avoids the overhead of having to create a new thread every time a small task is about to be performed.