title: What is the behavior of Thread.join() in Java if the target has not yet started?
body: <p>In a multi-threaded java program, what happens if a thread object T has been instantiated, and then has T.join() called before the thread has started?  Assume that some other thread could call T.start() at any time after T has been instantiated, either before or after another thread calls T.join().</p>
  
  <p>I'm asking because I think I have a problem where T.join() has been called before T.start(), and the thread calling T.join() hangs.</p>
  
  <p>Yes, I know I have some design problems that, if fixed, could make this a non-issue.  However, I would like to know the specifics of the join() behavior, because the only thing the Java API docs say is "Waits for this thread to die."</p>