Syntax. async is shorter, but can only pass args via capture.

Not so. async is identical to threads->create(), except that it is invoked as a function rather than a class method:

# 'async' is a function alias for the 'threads->create()' method
sub async (&;@)
{
    unshift(@_, 'threads');
    # Use "goto" trick to avoid pad problems from 5.8.1 (fixed in 5.8.
+2)
    goto &create;
}
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So async \&sub, $arg, 1, 'fred'; or even async{ ... } $arg, 1, 'fred';

are identical in effect to threads->create( \&sub, $arg, 1, 'fred' );

Ah yes, I forgot about that. Revised answer:

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Syntax. async is shorter, and it simply pass args via capture. That's good, because passing args to a thread as arguments is known to be problematic*.

Without args:

async(\&process);
async { process(); };
thread->create(\&process);
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With args:

async(\&process, $arg);           # Safe??
thread->create(\&process, $arg);  # Safe??

async { process($arg); };
thread->create(sub { process($arg) });
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* — The stack isn't ref-counted, and this causes issues when thread creation attempts to clone the variables. I can't remember the exact scenario, but I can look it up if you want more info.

The stack isn't ref-counted, and this causes issues when thread creation attempts to clone the variables. I can't remember the exact scenario, but I can look it up if you want more info.

If you have a moments at some point, I would be interested to read about it. Thanks.

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