for(my $i=0; $i<MAX_THREADS; $i++) {
    threads->create( \&thread, $q )->join;
}

##</code><code>##

thread( $q );
thread( $q );
thread( $q );
thread( $q );
thread( $q );
thread( $q );
thread( $q );
thread( $q );
thread( $q );
thread( $q );

##</code><code>##

my @threads = map threads->create( \&thread, $q ), 1 .. MAX_THREADS;

$_->join for @threads;